Her mother carries Baby Elizabeth into the examination room at Spring of Life, an SIM ministry in Jos, Nigeria, for people living with HIV/AIDS. The ten-month-old waves her spindly arms as SIM nurse Susan Bertrand lifts her from her mother’s lap. As Elizabeth gives a pitiful, scratchy cry, Susan’s voice cracks “She’s got a bad case of thrush." Elizabeth’s mom, Sarah, has never been to Spring of Life before. She was in the market, and one of Susan's friends approached her and said, "Your baby needs help; I’ll take you to Spring of Life.”

Sarah is very thin. She sits expressionlessly, too tired to care. A Nigerian nurse suggests, “We should counsel the mom, then test the mom and baby.”

As the nurse leads Sarah to another room, Susan explains, “We’ll explain what HIV/AIDS is, and describe the symptoms and stages. Then we’ll test her and the baby. They might just be malnourished, but Sarah looks very sickly, and Elizabeth coughs like she has TB, which often goes along with HIV/AIDS.”

She stops to greet a Nigerian staff member in Hausa. “Sannu. Yaya gajiya?” (“Hi, how are you? Not tired, I hope.”) Susan’s face lights up as she converses in Hausa with the staff member. Then she turns back to me. “We send our positive patients to the hospital for treatment, where they receive anti-retroviral drugs that suppress the HIV virus. They’re gaining weight, which is excellent.”

Kabiru

Susan is interrupted by another patient. Little Kabiru is between six and eight months old. Susan takes him in her arms. The baby leans against Susan and closes his eyes, too tired to care. Susan cuddles him closer. “Poor baby! Look how thin he is. He’s so cute, but way too thin to be six months old." Kabiru coughs weakly. “Listen to that cough. He may just have TB and not have AIDS—we’ve had babies take TB medicine for five or six weeks and then they’re fine. But why is he so thin when they say he eats so much?”

Larai, a Nigerian faculty member, translates into Hausa for Kabiru’s mother. Larai turns back to Susan. “She says she is not the mother.”

“Where is the mother?”

“She is late.” Kabiru’s mother passed away. This woman is taking care of him. Susan gropes for words. “Tell her… I’m really worried for this baby because he is so tiny although he eats a lot. She should take him to Dr. Blyth at Evangel Hospital. I will ask him for the results.”

Spring of Life's Ministry

As they leave Susan turns back to me. “I’m really worried about him. But there’s a chance he’s not HIV positive and just has TB.” Susan sorts blood testing equipment from a box of supplies as she explains Spring of Life's ministry to HIV positive mothers. “After a mother tests positive it’s not good to breastfeed the baby even if the baby’s positive. We have an infant formula project where a mother is given one can of formula every two weeks. Normally the cost is USD $5.00 per can, but we give them away free. The mother stops breastfeeding and mixes the formula with grains we provide—it’s a little like oatmeal and has lots of protein. Without treatment, 40% of Nigerian children die before they are one year old. If Baby Elizabeth doesn’t get help, she will die within the next one or two months, and if she tests positive; she’ll die at an early age—those are just the facts.”

Susan continues talking about Spring of Life. “We provide awareness, counseling, and home-based care. Our awareness program is a community outreach. We go to schools and churches, teaching about AIDS and providing voluntary counseling and testing. In addition, youth programs teach about abstinence."

"We offer counseling here, before and after blood tests. If a woman is pregnant and HIV positive, we start her on anti-retroviral drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Another aspect of our ministry is home-based care, which involves caring for people with HIV/AIDS. We train people in local churches, distribute food and drugs, and help women and children get more nutrition.”

Positive

We walk into the tiny room where Elizabeth and her mother are being tested for HIV. Elizabeth cries and squirms miserably as the nurse pricks her toe and squeezes out a drop of blood. They smear it on the test… and wait. Two thin lines, a pink one and a blue one, slowly appear. It’s positive.

Both Susan and Anna Beth are now students at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.