By Pat Paakaula
Special to the Herald
Twenty five years ago, a small bit of matter called a virus (now named HIV) made its way into the human population. After causing illness and death in a few people, it quickly exploded into a plague of biblical proportions reaching virtually the entire globe. Today, 25 years later, this pandemic shows no sign of going away.
Although drugs are now available in some parts of the world that prolong the lives of those infected with HIV, these drugs are not available to millions of people living in developing countries. An estimated 40 million people today are living with HIV. More than 22 million have died. Fourteen million children have lost one or both parents. And there is no cure.
AIDS entered my life in 1985 when I received a call from Los Angeles. It was my son Kaipo and his words are forever engraved on my heart. “Mom, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I have the AIDS virus.” I knew very little about AIDS back then — only that it was a terminal illness and my child was going to die. My first prayer was “I can’t deal with this Lord. Take it away.”
But, of course, that wasn’t going to happen, so my prayer changed. “Lord, show me the way to deal with this.” God’s answer was, “Get involved. Help others.” And that was what I did. I signed up with the Life Foundation (The AIDS Foundation of Hawaii) where I spent three years as a volunteer and another nine years as part of the staff. Watching the outpouring of love and compassion shown by so many caregivers and families, and at the same time being saddened for those who were turned away by friends and even families, had a profound effect on my life. When my son died in 1994, I felt grateful to be surrounded by so much loving support.
I retired from the Life Foundation in 1998. I knew the work the Lord had asked me to do wasn’t finished, so again I prayed for guidance. And the answer was, “The church should be involved.” How was I to do that? At that time there was a lot in the media about the horrific problem of AIDS in Africa. I thought this was a place we could help. Our pastor, Father Marc Alexander, and the parish pastoral council agreed that this was something that could and should be done.
Sacred Heart Church had been a Maryknoll parish for many years. Maryknoll had missions throughout the world dealing with AIDS. A call to Maryknoll in New York put me in touch with Sister Marion Hughes. Her mission in Tanzania deals with children, many infected with HIV and the many AIDS orphans. Sister Marion sent pictures and stories of some of these children.
These were included in our parish bulletin for several weeks before World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2000. That weekend, talks from the altar, a display of an AIDS memorial quilt and a bake sale by the fifth grade of Maryknoll School, the parish school, brought a very generous response from our parishioners. Sister Marian and her children became our adopted mission. A year later we adopted one more AIDS outreach in Tanzania headed by Maryknoll Sister Veronica Schweyn.
Now officially a parish AIDS ministry, we know that HIV/AIDS was right here in our own community. While December and World AIDS Day is always designated for outreach to Africa, our mid-year project became reaching out to the local AIDS service organizations. We continue to look for ways to reach out both locally and globally.
I would encourage other parishes to find ways to help. Some resources include:
-- Catholic Relief Services: www.crs.org, 1 (877) HELP-CRS
-- Maryknoll Global AIDS Ministries: matf@maryknoll.org
-- National Catholic AIDS Network (NCAN): www.ncan.org
Here are some other suggestions:
-- Think about inviting a speaker, perhaps someone with HIV. The Life Foundation has a speaker’s bureau.
-- Remember those with HIV/AIDS in the prayers of the faithful.
-- Be welcoming to anyone who is dealing with HIV. Many people are still hesitant to share this information, but support is so important.
-- Learn more about the disease. Misconceptions are still very common.
-- The Manoa-Punahou Catholic Community AIDS Ministry is ready to help you. Leave your name and number with the Sacred Heart office, 973-2211, and your call will be returned.
When Kaipo was close to death he asked me if I thought he had gotten AIDS so I would do the work I was doing. I told him I don’t believe God sends things like hurricanes or floods or terrible diseases like AIDS to his children on earth. This is not a perfect world and things just happen. I believe that God allows us to use these catastrophic events to reach out and help others. I believe that is what he expects us to do.
Pat Paakaula is director of the Manoa-Punahou Catholic Community AIDS Ministry.