The coming of the harvest

AIDS ministry expands in Nigeria

By Sr. Suzanne Marshall, O.L.M.
May 2006

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"Then Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is like someone who plants seed in the ground. Night and day, whether the person is asleep or awake, the seed still grows, but the person does not know how it grows. By itself the earth produces grain. First the plant grows, then the head, and then all the grain in the head. When the grain is ready, the farmer cuts it, because this is the harvest time.'" (Mark 4: 26-29)

Starting basic services for people with HIV and AIDS in the teaming city of Gboko, about an hour's drive from Vandeikya, reminds me of this parable. For a long time, we who worked with people with AIDS in Vandeikya and Adikpo had welcomed many clients from the Gboko area. Yet, we worried that nothing had been started for them in Gboko, which has the largest concentration of Tiv people in Benue State. In addition, the Diocese of Makurdi offered no medical services in the city. Something had to happen.

For six years Fr. Stephen Beba had been our parish priest in Vandeikya. During that time he had been active in our HIV/AIDS program. From Vandeikya he was transferred to St. John's Parish, Gboko, one of the largest and oldest parishes in that city. Sr. Mary Deighan and I saw a window of opportunity and seized the moment.

Fr. Stephen is well known to some of the readers of Scarboro Missions. He was in Canada for eight years, first studying pastoral counseling at St. Paul's University in Ottawa and later working at the Marriage Tribunal and in St. Monica's parish, Toronto.

From the beginning, we all knew that we could not take on the responsibility of maintaining services for people living with AIDS in Gboko itself. However, we felt that if we could start something at St. John's Parish and if we could find volunteers to counsel and run support groups, it would be a beginning. Who knows how it might develop after that?

Right from the start Fr. Stephen was enthusiastic about setting up a support group at his parish. The first meeting was held in a small sitting room off the priests' dining room. Two people came, both friends of Fr. Stephen's. We brought counselors from our programs in Vandeikya and Adikpo, as well as medical staff, to offer consultation and prescribe drugs. After that, meetings were held once a month and Fr. Stephen always had a meal ready afterwards for both clients and staff.

At first the group grew slowly. People with AIDS are afraid to identify themselves because of the shame and rejection attached to this disease.

Fr. Stephen wanted volunteers trained to do pre- and post-HIV test counseling and to facilitate the support group. I offered our staff and centre in Vandeikya as a training centre and he selected five parishioners who agreed to come daily for two weeks.

Each morning they arrived in Fr. Stephen's car and each evening he awaited their return to hear the feedback of the day's sessions. Without that personal interest and support I doubt that they would have persevered.

The volunteers

Initially I was dismayed when I met the five volunteers. They were middle-aged people, well educated and with comfortable lifestyles. Would they really be interested in caring for the poor, rejected people who make up the bulk of our AIDS ministry? Would they commit to faithfully running the program we envisaged? I had great doubts. But I liked them and quickly found them to be interested and motivated. They were able to enter into roleplay and hear the criticisms necessary for learning to do HIV/AIDS counseling.

It is now a year and a half later and there are more than 215 members registered with the support group. Our counselors, with the help of the first group, have trained a second group of volunteers. The first group not only persevered, they became better counselors and were more committed as time passed. Now the expanded group of volunteers includes two nurses, two trained community health workers and one laboratory assistant. Two of the volunteers are HIV positive and are active members of the support group.

As well, through the Diocesan Medical Coordinator the medical program has begun services in the city. After purchasing a large tract of land for a clinic, Fr. Stephen had the foundation dug. This was followed by a celebration at the building site, enthusiastically supported by some of the parishioners from St. John's.

Fr. Stephen's first priority for the clinic is the pastoral care unit for people living with HIV and AIDS. This unit will be centrally located on the ground floor. The medical coordinator for the diocese has sent staff to run the clinic and has donated a large number of essential drugs that will serve as the basis for a rotating drug fund.

On January 24 we went to Gboko for the official handover ceremony. It was held as usual in Fr. Stephen's dining room and all the volunteers and staff sent by the diocese were in attendance, as well as a number of our own counselors from Vandeikya. I don't think we will ever say a final goodbye to the Gboko group. That's the trouble with friendships.

It is reassuring to know that a counselor and nurse from Vandeikya will be attending the support group in Gboko. But the program is officially in the capable hands of the Gboko people with Fr. Stephen's support.

At the conclusion of the handover, we gathered around Fr. Stephen's table to enjoy a delicious meal of pounded yam and bush meat. Truly the harvest had come.

We wish to offer a sincere "Thank you" to the people of Canada. You have generously supported Our Lady's Missionaries in our ministry to the people of Gboko as they attempt to cope with this deadly virus.

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