Another tough day

Nakalulu finally allowing us to draw blood for HIV testing.

As you can see this woman only weighs about 40 Lbs. She is severely malnourished and as a result of the blood testing we did, we found she has Advanced Syphilis. Advanced Syphilis is not curable at this stage. She is not HIV+, but her daughter, Grace, is not so fortunate. We had Grace taken and admitted into the local clinic for testing and treatment. We learned that she is HIV+, has TB, Malaria, malnutrition, dehydration, anemia and the list goes on. The smell of this home when we entered it smelled like rotten fish. Melody informed me that it was rotting flesh. This woman has not left her bed for 4 years and her daughter Grace lays by her side. They look as though they have given up all hope and desire to live. Nakalulu is 37 years old and she looks 87. This has been one of the most difficult things that my eyes have seen since I have been here. Her daughter Grace... that's even more depressing to me. The girl is 17 years old and both her and her mother await death. I started to cry just thinking of the doctor telling her she is HIV+. Someone said they don't like to be tested, that they'd rather be ignorant to the fact. The more I thought about how it must feel to learn you will die soon, the more I could understand how that could be possible. When you see so much death and people dropping like flies around you from AIDS, she must just be waiting her turn. That breaks my heart! I cant understand why they don't just CHOOSE not to have sex! I had to think about this before I realized that many girls (all over the world) have sex outside of the way God designed it, and suffer many severe consequences outside of AIDS. Many of these girls were not even given the choice. I just know I have seen so much devastation here that its hard. This poor woman we are afraid to touch because this home is so highly contagious. But we do anyway. Its very difficult to see a woman reach out to you in gratitude and not touch her hands to respond. I am struggling in many ways after spending the day with this family. There is no justification. Please pray for this family!