Remebering Why!

When we started this campaign, we had never met anyone with HIV or AIDS. We knew it was a mammoth issue and problem, but we didn't know anyone affected by the virus, much less suffering from it.

That all changed in the Summer of 2005 with our first trip to Ethiopia. There, we met Wandemagegn. At six years old, our little friend is being raised by his two sisters, Helen who is 12 and Selam who is 16 -- the same age as our daughters. Their parents died when Wandemagegn was two. Some say his parents died of AIDS.

When we returned this past summer, not much had changed for Wandemagegn and his sisters. They were waiting to move into some new government housing. In the meantime, the place they were living (which could hardly be called a shack) was made with sticks, tarp and some scrap corrugated metal. With one bed on the dirt floor, there was barely enough room for the three of them to move around (much less for our family of four to crowd in to say hello). Even so, they greeted us with joy and hospitality.

We consider these three young people to be part of our family now. We think of them often. We send them small gifts from time to time to show our love. We keep them in our prayers. And so, as we took time this week to sit and give thanks, we gave thanks for Wandemagegn and his sisters. We gave thanks for their health. We gave thanks for our chance to help provide for them. We gave thanks for the things they have taught us about joy and thankfulness, in the midst of suffering and poverty.

And as we gave thanks, we thought of the more than 15,000,000 children like Wandemagegn, Helen and Selam who have lost one or more parents to AIDS in Africa. As we gave thanks, we stopped and remembered why we started collecting pennies. We remembered why we are building caregiver kits. We remembered that, even though we can't fix the problems facing even this one little family, we can do something and it will make a difference.

Happy Thanksgiving!