5 October 2005
Christ healed, honored, and loved those who suffer. The SHALOM Centre in Delhi is reaching out in Christ-like compassion in word and deed to people suffering with HIV/AIDS. These are just two of the many who SHALOM Centre has touched.

Ajay's story

"Ajay" is 7 years old and was born in a remote region of the state of Uttaranchal. He lost both parents by the time he was one year old. This boy's survival seemed brighter when Gita, a divorcee with no children of her own, adopted him. She loves Ajay dearly and felt her future was secure with a son. However Ajay started to become ill frequently when he was 5 years old. Tests revealed he was HIV-positive. The doctors speculated that both his parents must have been HIV positive and Ajay most likely became infected through his mother at birth.

He has had ART treatment in the past but his adopted mother had to stop it after the first year because of the expense. Gita continues to care for Ajay. She now travels to Delhi to the Shalom Centre to ensure that he gets care and treatment. He now receives ART treatment for free, and Prophalaxis for PCP. If both his parents were indeed HIV-iinfected, it raises the difficult question of how far this virus must have spread in Uttaranchal, a state which is supposed to have low prevalence, in the estimated 10-14 years since his parents' infection.

Vinod's story

"Vinod" is 30 years old and has been very ill for years. His initial test for HIV were negative. However he became worse despite being on ATT for a tuberculous cystus in his brain. Six months later he was tested again and the result was positive, with a CD4 count of 142. By that time, he exhibited classic symptoms of AIDS Dementia Complex including restlessness, abnormal speech and behaviour, and repeating words. He was admitted to Shalom in February 2005 and his condition deteriorated rapidly.

He slipped into a semi conscious state for 3 days and had seizures sometimes lasting up to 20 minutes. He was put on anti-epileptic treatment, steroids, potent antibiotics and ART on top of the ATT. After a few days he started to respond, began talking, eating, and even got power back in his legs. How amazing to watch him walk out of the centre, since at one point we all thought he would not make it.

His family coped remarkably. His mother was a tower of strength. She hardly slept for the 5 weeks he was an in-patient. One of his sisters was also by his side every day despite the fact that it took over an hour and a half to get to the centre from where they lived. They washed him, learnt to feed him through the feeding tube and emptied his urine bag without any complaint. Other family members also visited frequently. However, family visits were also a great stress to Vinod's mother and sister because if the rest of the family, including their father, ever discovered his HIV status they would be cut off from the family. The nurses at Shalom always kept his file hidden to prevent the relatives from finding out.

Throughout all of Vinod's stay in the Shalom Centre, his sister Deepa went to the temple every day to do Puja for her brother's healing. We had many conversations together about HIV and about general every day things. I shared my faith with her and prayed with her many times. Since then the homecare staff report that both she and her two sisters are very interested to learn more about Jesus Christ. Pray that they will soon know the truth, freedom and peace that comes from knowing Jesus personally.