Rosa with her family

Rosa is well acquainted with grief. Her daughter died of AIDS, leaving an HIV-infected son, Josué, for Rosa to care for. Rosa knows that eventually she’ll lose him to the disease. She lives in a very poor area of Guayaquil, Ecuador, with her diabetic husband who also suffers with Parkinson’s disease. Despite all these challenges, she is a vibrant believer in Jesus, and her testimony encourages others whose lives have been disrupted by HIV/AIDS. She’s a member of a support group that is part of our HIV/AIDS ministry in this city.

Help and Hope

For several years, we have been reaching out to HIV/AIDS sufferers through our partnership with the Agustin Tomala AIDS Foundation, which was set up by Heather Simpson, a former SIMer from New Zealand. We visit the Infectious Diseases Hospital, where we give free medicine to the poorest patients as identified by the hospital. While there we give New Testaments and share the Gospel and pray with patients who want to pray. We also visit HIV infected people in their homes.

Twice a month we sponsor an AIDS support group. Here these very vulnerable people can talk openly about their problems and can encourage one another. About 25 people, mostly women, come to the meetings. Most of them are believers who met Christ through the team’s visits while they were hospitalized. The support group meetings give opportunity for Bible study and craft-teaching sessions. In this context of deep poverty, we hope to establish a micro-enterprise program in which the women can make things to sell in order to provide income for their families.

Prevention of HIV infection is a high priority. We teach AIDS awareness and prevention seminars in schools, universities, and churches. We also train others to do this teaching. Regrettably, cultural patterns change slowly. Machismo (which encourages male promiscuity and infidelity) and ignorance about AIDS are some of the factors that contribute to the rising infection rate here. Pray that God will provide the financial and personnel resources to enable us to continue this ministry. Pray also that many will come to faith in Christ and will live the rest of their lives on earth with His joy and hope.