Amazed by the “Amazing Group”

South of Kisumu Kenya in the tiny village of Nyahera, there are miracles of the human spirit and acts of true love going on. The first thing you have to know is that the Amazing Group is a collection of HIV positive men and women who live in the community who, through the Village Care OPOS program, have decided to come together to try and fight the stigma of HIV and the prejudice that comes with this crippling disease. They have formed their group and are currently running projects involving economic security and education around HIV for the surrounding community. Their projects include goat raising, farming corn and kale, and chicken raising, as well as micro-banking to help support the members with their HIV drugs and orphans in their community who are afflicted with this disease. They even put together a dramatic skit to help educate people on HIV/AIDS and what it is and is not.

One of their main projects is the support of the members of their community who are struggling through HIV treatment by supplying them nutritious food, transportation to and from clinic visits, and by caring for these patients in their homes. This group does this all on their own, with no outside help and with no financial or material reward from anyone. Their reward is seeing people loving people, taking care of each other, and allowing individuals to live a more fulfilling and productive life.

There is one particular member who we have gotten to know well. Her name is Judith and she is the embodiment of everything that is good and right in the world.

Her spirit emanates from her tiny, frail body like beams from a sunrise. Her smile grabs your heart and holds it close as she takes your hand in hers, and in broken English, tells you how grateful she is you have come. On one particular visit we went to visit her at Chulaimbo MedicalCenter, which is a large health clinic near her village. In addition to HIV/AIDS treatment, the clinic has a lab, a circumcision center, a sickle cell wing, and other general health care facilities for the community. When we arrived Judith was still in the room receiving her treatments, so we waited. We toured around the facility, seeing what work was being done, and anticipated seeing our friend again. Soon after that, Judith emerged with the help of Lydia, one of the members of the Amazing Group who is caring for Judith.

Lydia’s story is also one filled with God’s love, true caring, and sacrifice that most people will never understand. She does so much with so little, attempting to give Judith what she needs to survive while barley surviving herself. She uses what meager money she can gather along with the other members to pay for Judith’s treatments as well as the medicine and food she needs to survive. She is doing so much, but needs to be able to do more. If I could have one wish it would be to have more Lydia’s in the world, because if we did, our children and our children’s children would know a world far different than the one we do, a world ruled by love and operated on the basis of simple compassion.

We greeted Judith with hugs and high fives, exchanging small words in what little Swahili we can speak, trying to convey to her our excitement in seeing her again.

Even now, I am stunned by the difference in her from just a week ago. When we first met her she could not even stand, barley holding her body weight and barley able to speak. Now she was walking and interacting, her face full of life and her eyes bright like gemstones. As we boarded the van, preparing for the bumpy ride back to the village, Judith turned to us and said, “I am blessed to see you again.” This simple statement speaks volumes about her spirit, her courage, and a strength that I will never comprehend. Here is a woman who is clinging to life, suffering excruciating pain daily, but she is blessed by our presence. No Judith, we are blessed beyond measure by you.

Once we arrive at her home we are invited in to sit and talk. We ask her how her treatments are going. Good. Is she feeling better? Much better. We ask her if she is hungry. Her head lifts and she speaks a resounding and slightly playful “Yes!” We all laugh, but inside there is desperation in her voice. We offer her what food we have, a carton of banana yogurt.As if given manna from heaven she drinks the yogurt, smiling all the while, and begins to feel better.

While we sit and talk, in my mind I can’t help but realize that what we are witnessing here is something that is not unique in communities we visit. These people have decided, because it is what should be done, to care for their own and to take responsibility for each other. Lydia and the rest of the Amazing Group do this work when no one is watching. Even when the Mzungus from America are at home in their houses, Judith and Lydia are fighting the good fight, battling day by day to survive and to bring love into the world. I have seen a lot of things, been a lot of places, but right there in Nyahera I know in my heart I met God face to face in Judith’s eyes, in her touch, and in the palpable spirit in that tiny mud hut.

After some time we decided to depart and let Judith rest. Before we left we all sat and took some great pictures with her. She held us close and whispered unknown words in our ears, but it didn't matter. Love is universal, gratitude knows no boundaries, and courage obeys no human laws. As we stood to leave Judith, in all her awe-inspiring strength insisted on seeing us out. She led us out the door and into the African sun, leaning heavily on her cane. In the next moments I truly can say I saw something that moved me like few things have. With child-like joy seldom witnessed by us, Judith threw down her cane and treated us to a show. She strutted back and forth in front of her house, and even attempted to jog! As if to say, “No death, you can’t have me now” she defied what we all thought she could do (See the video at the bottom, thanks to Jessica Dehlin for the footage). She hugged and kissed us and prayed we would come back soon. We boarded the van with tears in our eyes, love in our hearts, and the prayer that it would not be long before we would be in her presence again. There are few places where the spirit of something greater is actually tangible, something you can see, touch, smell, and be near. I can say, without bias or pre-determined notions that I have been there, in the presence of God, and her name is Judith.