Great Expectations
by Jessica Hasslen
Jessica is a missionary serving in Kenya who participated in an HIVHope International survey there.
She shared the following and gave us permission to reprint it here on the website.
She shared the following and gave us permission to reprint it here on the website.
Ladies in the seminar in traditional Samburu dress.
Hope is defined in the Collins English Mini Dictionary as the expectation of something desired. I am a writer, but I’ve never thought of myself as a wordsmith. I’m not a ponderer of origin or meaning. However, there are a couple of words that have always stuck in my brain. One of them is hope and the other is expectation. That’s because they are two sides of the same coin. If you have hope, then you expect something will happen. If you expect something to happen, then you hope it will.
I often feel like I operate without expectations. But I think it is impossible to operate without hope.
In December of 2012 I was asked to attend a camp for youth living with HIV in Kenya. My role at the camp was to write the stories of the campers who were aged 16-22. The first interview was one of the hardest I’ve ever conducted, but what I learned from it would change my life.
Ellie was 16 years old. She contracted HIV from her mother through breast milk. Her mother was dead. She didn’t know her father. Her grandparents were all dead. None of her older siblings by another father were positive. She lived with an aunt who refused to let her cousins speak to her or use the same utensils. She was totally alone. When she finished telling me her story she said, “No one’s every asked me about me before, no one ever asks how I’m feeling.”
Ellie was not alone. All of the youth I interviewed that week said the same thing. We have no one to talk to. One week at camp is not enough!
I came across the HIVHope International website after months of prayer and asking God for new direction in my life. I am a missionary (and writer) living in Kenya. I know God has called me to Kenya. But after my first mission assignment ended, I wasn’t sure what he had in store for me. I emailed HIVHope’s director, Duane Crumb, through the HIVHope website, told him where I lived and of my interest in supporting youth living with HIV. He wrote back and told me that he was planning to hold a seminar in Maralal, Kenya, in August.
God planted a seed in my heart that grew (for almost nine months) and became Maarifa a Kiswahili word that means, “a plan, a means of overcoming a difficulty.” Maarifa is a faith-based psychosocial support program for youth living with HIV.
I started to develop the program because everywhere I went with this idea, to fill the gap of psychosocial support with youth living with HIV, God showed me His favor. I am not an expert in HIV/AIDS. Before I took the HIVHope HIV Educator Seminar with Duane in Maralal, I was pretty sure that the seed God had planted in my heart had been put there by mistake. I kept asking, “Why me God?” I have no training in HIV/AIDS. I’m not in the medical field. “Can you really use me here?”
I took a long journey to a not particularly safe part of Kenya to attend the HIV Educators seminar and to learn from Duane, who has been researching and studying HIV/AIDS almost since its inception.
Some people go through life with lots of expectations. I lack that ability. I usually just show up ready for whatever will happen without much forethought.
Maralal is the county seat of the Samburu people, a traditionally nomadic tribe who live primarily in the Northeastern part of Kenya. They are pastoralist living in a harsh semi-arid environment. A majority of the seminar participants were Samburu church leaders; there was one Turkana and four wazungu (foreigners) all missionaries. I wondered at how Duane would make his presentation relevant to all of us. I need not have worried.
On the first day of the seminar Duane passed out a pre-test. One of the questions was, “Is HIV a judgment from God.” Seventy percent of the class of 20 church going participants said that yes, it was a judgment from God.
Duane did not seem phased by the reply and had participants explain their points of view. After a bit of back and forth and many Bible verses used as a basis for one theory or another, the final agreement boiled down to this: HIV is a natural consequence of sin, not a judgment from God. I didn’t expect such strongly held opinions to be influenced so quickly or so positively! This is Africa after all, a place where superstition and religion go hand in hand.
On day two we also talked about the myth that HIV is a curse. Another topic was HIV testing and we made lists about why people have sex outside of marriage. Lastly we discussed behavior change versus influencing behavior and how to encourage people living with HIV/AIDS.
Day three we discussed stigma and discrimination. It took awhile to get into the discussion because there is not a word for stigma in the Samburu language! A lot of this was culturally based and very interesting to listen to the Samburu participants discuss their culture.
Then we discussed ARVs and how they work. This could have been a very complicated topic but Duane made it easily understandable and culturally relevant. We also had two Bible translators at the seminar and they agreed to translate the chapter about how HIV and ARVs work from Duane’s book, “HIV Hope for the Nations” into Samburu for their final project.
On Thursday, we talked about our role as educators and how to interact with our audience. After lunch we started to present the projects that we had been working on all week.
Duane requires that each participant present a song, poem, game, skit, etc. that they can then use to teach about HIV.
I agonized over what to present. And then I had an idea. Ephesians 6 popped into my head. It talks about putting on the armor of God. Putting on the armor of God means sacrificing the things of this world. So I used the word SACRIFICE to form an acrostic that explained the parts of the armor of positive living.
Thanks to Duane and the HIVHope Educators Seminar I can say with confidence that Maarifa will succeed. Not only because I now have sufficient knowledge to do what God has called me to do, but also because it is God’s will that youth living with HIV in Kenya receive the emotional and spiritual support they need to live positively. He has gone ahead of me every step of the way. I have every reason to hope!
Even though HIV is a serious topic, the HIV Educator Seminar is not a solemn affair; Duane prides himself on the “hope” part of his message. He wants you to see that if the message is correct, consistent and appropriate, if we care for people living with HIV/AIDS with respect and dignity and if we do all of this to honor the God who created us, we can and will put an end HIV.
It’s about people. It’s about relationships. It’s about hope.
It starts with you!
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12
“Live in Harmony with one another.” Romans 12:16
It’s just that simple.
So maybe we can have great expectations of a future without HIV. However, without action there is no hope or even the expectation of hope.
I often feel like I operate without expectations. But I think it is impossible to operate without hope.
In December of 2012 I was asked to attend a camp for youth living with HIV in Kenya. My role at the camp was to write the stories of the campers who were aged 16-22. The first interview was one of the hardest I’ve ever conducted, but what I learned from it would change my life.
Ellie was 16 years old. She contracted HIV from her mother through breast milk. Her mother was dead. She didn’t know her father. Her grandparents were all dead. None of her older siblings by another father were positive. She lived with an aunt who refused to let her cousins speak to her or use the same utensils. She was totally alone. When she finished telling me her story she said, “No one’s every asked me about me before, no one ever asks how I’m feeling.”
Ellie was not alone. All of the youth I interviewed that week said the same thing. We have no one to talk to. One week at camp is not enough!
I came across the HIVHope International website after months of prayer and asking God for new direction in my life. I am a missionary (and writer) living in Kenya. I know God has called me to Kenya. But after my first mission assignment ended, I wasn’t sure what he had in store for me. I emailed HIVHope’s director, Duane Crumb, through the HIVHope website, told him where I lived and of my interest in supporting youth living with HIV. He wrote back and told me that he was planning to hold a seminar in Maralal, Kenya, in August.
God planted a seed in my heart that grew (for almost nine months) and became Maarifa a Kiswahili word that means, “a plan, a means of overcoming a difficulty.” Maarifa is a faith-based psychosocial support program for youth living with HIV.
I started to develop the program because everywhere I went with this idea, to fill the gap of psychosocial support with youth living with HIV, God showed me His favor. I am not an expert in HIV/AIDS. Before I took the HIVHope HIV Educator Seminar with Duane in Maralal, I was pretty sure that the seed God had planted in my heart had been put there by mistake. I kept asking, “Why me God?” I have no training in HIV/AIDS. I’m not in the medical field. “Can you really use me here?”
I took a long journey to a not particularly safe part of Kenya to attend the HIV Educators seminar and to learn from Duane, who has been researching and studying HIV/AIDS almost since its inception.
Some people go through life with lots of expectations. I lack that ability. I usually just show up ready for whatever will happen without much forethought.
Maralal is the county seat of the Samburu people, a traditionally nomadic tribe who live primarily in the Northeastern part of Kenya. They are pastoralist living in a harsh semi-arid environment. A majority of the seminar participants were Samburu church leaders; there was one Turkana and four wazungu (foreigners) all missionaries. I wondered at how Duane would make his presentation relevant to all of us. I need not have worried.
On the first day of the seminar Duane passed out a pre-test. One of the questions was, “Is HIV a judgment from God.” Seventy percent of the class of 20 church going participants said that yes, it was a judgment from God.
Duane did not seem phased by the reply and had participants explain their points of view. After a bit of back and forth and many Bible verses used as a basis for one theory or another, the final agreement boiled down to this: HIV is a natural consequence of sin, not a judgment from God. I didn’t expect such strongly held opinions to be influenced so quickly or so positively! This is Africa after all, a place where superstition and religion go hand in hand.
On day two we also talked about the myth that HIV is a curse. Another topic was HIV testing and we made lists about why people have sex outside of marriage. Lastly we discussed behavior change versus influencing behavior and how to encourage people living with HIV/AIDS.
Day three we discussed stigma and discrimination. It took awhile to get into the discussion because there is not a word for stigma in the Samburu language! A lot of this was culturally based and very interesting to listen to the Samburu participants discuss their culture.
Then we discussed ARVs and how they work. This could have been a very complicated topic but Duane made it easily understandable and culturally relevant. We also had two Bible translators at the seminar and they agreed to translate the chapter about how HIV and ARVs work from Duane’s book, “HIV Hope for the Nations” into Samburu for their final project.
On Thursday, we talked about our role as educators and how to interact with our audience. After lunch we started to present the projects that we had been working on all week.
Duane requires that each participant present a song, poem, game, skit, etc. that they can then use to teach about HIV.
I agonized over what to present. And then I had an idea. Ephesians 6 popped into my head. It talks about putting on the armor of God. Putting on the armor of God means sacrificing the things of this world. So I used the word SACRIFICE to form an acrostic that explained the parts of the armor of positive living.
Thanks to Duane and the HIVHope Educators Seminar I can say with confidence that Maarifa will succeed. Not only because I now have sufficient knowledge to do what God has called me to do, but also because it is God’s will that youth living with HIV in Kenya receive the emotional and spiritual support they need to live positively. He has gone ahead of me every step of the way. I have every reason to hope!
Even though HIV is a serious topic, the HIV Educator Seminar is not a solemn affair; Duane prides himself on the “hope” part of his message. He wants you to see that if the message is correct, consistent and appropriate, if we care for people living with HIV/AIDS with respect and dignity and if we do all of this to honor the God who created us, we can and will put an end HIV.
It’s about people. It’s about relationships. It’s about hope.
It starts with you!
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12
“Live in Harmony with one another.” Romans 12:16
It’s just that simple.
So maybe we can have great expectations of a future without HIV. However, without action there is no hope or even the expectation of hope.
Seminar participants discussing issues relating to their culture in their own language before sharing their thoughts with the entire group.
