Mary Mole was my Swahili teacher in Kenya. She’s a dignified and gregarious woman who speaks her mind and works hard. She also has AIDS. Her husband died 7 years ago from AIDS and she was diagnosed shortly afterwards. After spending months in the hospital, she began to improve due to anti-retro viral treatment. She has four children, the youngest of whom is 13 (Sarah - pictured to the left with Mary), all of whom know her status and are loving, loyal and supportive of her. In the spring of this year she decided to make her status known to her boss so that she would have the opportunity to minister to others with AIDS. Her boss, the headmaster at a church-affiliated high school, began to make life miserable for her until finally Mary asked for a transfer.
Mary’s life story is exile. Her mother was kicked out of the house with her and Mary’s sister because she was pregnant out of wedlock. When Mary married a man from another tribe and when her husband died of AIDS, her in-laws refused their responsibility to her and chased her away. Since she had married outside of her tribe, she has always had a hard time among her own tribe. During the election violence she was harassed and robbed simply because her married name was of another ethnic group. And most recently she was practically forced to leave her job at the school. Now she is teaching at another school where her boss has tried to have her fired due to having AIDS. Praise God that the board of the school refused to have her fired on such illegitimate grounds.
I had been in touch with Mary and knew that she had been transferred to a village school a few miles away. So when I went to Kenya to visit, I found out the school she worked at from her cousin and got a "bush taxi" to the school on a cold and rainy day in the mountains of Western Kenya. I wasn’t sure if I would find her and she doesn’t have a cell phone (it was stolen by her sons’ classmates during the post-election violence) so I was anxious as I sloshed through mud and pouring rain to the school compound. The look of surprise on her face is something I will never forget!
I sat with Mary for hours in her new home, so far away from any support system or family. We caught up on life and she told me how she was battling depression, discouragement, and stigma along with AIDS. But her faith in God shook me to the core. As we talked together she shared scripture with me, specific promises of God that she was clinging to. She praised the Lord for His faithfulness to her. And then she said something that I’ll never forget. She told me that she was blessed to have AIDS because it made her appreciate each gift of God in a new way every day. She has learned to treasure God deeply and to delight in Him and that has given her a joy that no one person can take. What a challenge and encouragement she is to me. Please pray with me for Mary! She needs encouragement, love, support and community. Pray for her children as well that they will find Christ to be their security as their mother has.