The Gift of Dignity

Value. Purpose. Meaning.

How do you re-instill these things into a life where they have been lost? How can you take a person with no self-worth and show them that they are special, they are loved, and they are important? These are some of the challenges that face the CARE for AIDS center workers on a daily basis as they meet with clients who have lost all semblence of value, purpose, and meaning in their life.

I'm learning that rebuilding these vital parts of life isn't something that happens overnight - it's a long process. As my good friend Banks Benitez has taught me, one of the greatest gifts we can give someone is the gift of dignity, and I'm seeing more and more that this is a vital step in turning around the life of a person suffering from poverty and HIV/AIDS. Dignity isn't a simple thing to give, but one way that Joseph and Margaret (the center workers at Banana Hill Baptish Church) have found to rebuild this vital trait in their clients is through giving them the opportunity to serve other people.

Many of the clients at the center receive their ARV's (medication for HIV/AIDS) at the Karuli Health Clinic, a government-funded clinic just off the main street of Banana Hill. Karuli doesn't receive an excess of funding by any means, so the clients decided that they would show their appreciation to the clinic by spending a day cleaning up the compound and helping in any way that they could. On Wednesday morning, I met a group of about 40 clients, along with Joseph, Margaret, and Thomas (the pastor of BHBC), at the Distric Chief's office in Banana Hill. We spoke with this regional government administrator, explaining what we were doing, and then all walked the short distance to the Karuli clinic. For the next few hours, the whole group trimmed hedges, cut grass, picked weeds, washed toilets, and mopped hallways, working together to put a fresh new face on the Karuli compound.

This event meant much more than a simple volunteer workday. It amazed me to see the joy and the sense of purpose in the eyes of all our clients as they took to their work with gusto. For people who have all, at one time or another, felt like they had nothing to offer - because they were too sick, too outcast, or too poor - it meant the world to be truly helping other people. Instead of being the lowest of the low, people who could only receive help, the clients proved that they had something valuable to offer to others. They showed that they were healthy enough to work in a productive manner, and they joined together to accomplish a goal, for which they were thanked profusely by the hospital staff and doctors. Imagine what this praise and thanks would mean if just months before you thought you had nothing to offer? It is one step on the road to dignity - one building block towards a life with self-worth.

In addition to the effects this day of service had on each and every client, it also served as a clear message to the community of Banana Hill. Many of the clients wore shirts that proclaimed, "Community Strengthening Against Stigma," and they viewed this day as a chance to stand together boldly as people living with HIV/AIDS, showing the community that they were capable of being a part of the society in a valuable, constructive way. Again this shows a remarkable change - just months ago the majority of these people kept their HIV status a secret, but now they are actively campaigning to reverse the stigma that keeps so many other HIV-positive people hiding instead of seeking help.

I am so proud of each of the clients who spent their day serving the Karuli health clinic and fighting stigma! Praise God for their courage, their confidence, and their mutual encouragement. Praise God for Joseph and Margaret, and their tireless work to see the lives of these people changed. Praise God for the value, purpose, and meaning that is slowly growing in the lives of these people.

Praise God for dignity.