Nigeria
Meet Fatima
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Pictured above are Fatima’s companions in the sewing program at Mashiah Foundation |
When Fatima was first brought to Mashiah Foundation in Jos, Nigeria, she was skeletally thin and too weak to walk. Her legs were covered in sores. She desperately needed help, but she had AIDS and her family had abandoned her. It seemed that her fate was sealed. But that was then.
This is now. Fatima has been transformed into a woman living with hope.
Mashiah Foundation staff (including ELCA mission personnel Mary Beth and Bayo Oyebade) cared for Fatima for months, providing her with food and medicine, and nursing her back to health. She gained weight. She gained strength. She still carries the HIV virus, but antiretroviral drugs keep it in check.
Most importantly, Fatima met other women at Mashiah Foundation who had once been just like her. These women had regained their health and were now working in the Mashiah Foundation sewing program. Fatima learned that HIV did not have to be a death sentence. Help and treatment were available. There was a loving community to embrace her. Through fellowship with other HIV-positive women, Fatima found new hope.