Commentary: The value of Eleanor’s life
John, the administrator of a small Christian school in Kitwe, Zambia,
holds Eleanor Banda, one of his students. Eleanor, whose mother died of
AIDS, died herself from severe malnutrition on Dec. 28, 2008.
A UMNS photo by Dru Smith
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A UMNS Commentary
By Gina Riendeau*
Feb. 26, 2009
It was late December and everybody I knew was busy with
Christmas—focusing on family and faith, preparing music, gifts, food
and more for people we love.
I was busy, too, but on my computer were a couple emails that just
wouldn’t leave my mind. One message was from Jim Bushfield, director of
connectional ministries for the Indiana Annual Conference, celebrating
donations given to the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund from 2005 to
2008. Another set of emails was coming from a missionary friend, Dru
Smith, who was journaling about the death of a little girl named
Eleanor Banda.
I met Dru — a middle-aged woman from First United Methodist Church
in Peoria, Ill., with a big heart for children — and Eleanor while on
study leave in Zambia last year. Eleanor was one of those beloved
children whose wretched existence in Zambezi compound, or slum, was
brightened by her relationship with Dru and a tiny Christian school she
attended.
Here was my dilemma: I wanted to share the good news that the North
Indiana Conference had raised $10,189.75 over the past four years for
the Global AIDS Fund. But, I couldn’t be happy over the fact that the
conference where I promote awareness of mission issues only gave about
2.6 cents per member — for an average of 97,745 members — each year.
For me, it was personal: Eleanor’s life amounted to half a nickel.
Victim of AIDS
Grief still comes when I think about Eleanor and her sad story.
Eleanor died a victim of AIDS—not because she necessarily had AIDS
(although she may have), but because she was the innocent victim of
poverty and evil.
Gina Riendeau
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Her mother had died of AIDS, causing her father to leave her in the
care of his oldest brother’s family. Eleanor became one more mouth to
feed, an unwanted burden for a family already on the edge of survival.
They starved her to death, calling the illnesses of her starvation the
curses of a witch or the haunting of her dead mother.
Here is Dru’s description of a last visit to Eleanor (made with
John, the school administrator): “Yesterday, John and I slogged through
the mud to visit her home at the edge of the compound. There were no
adults around; only small children who reached out their hands to greet
me and delighted in my usual ‘tickles to the tummy.’ The older cousin
was in charge (she is about 14 years old). She went into the dark, damp
mud house to get Eleanor, who is now too weak to walk. She carried her
out, and when Eleanor saw us, she started to cry--there was no sound,
and no tears, because she is too dehydrated -- just an anguished look
on her face.
“She clung to John and rested her head on his shoulder, because she
can barely hold it up. When I held her in my arms, I could feel her
hipbones protruding and saw how the flesh in her legs has shrunk to
where her knees look too large. Her hands and feet are swollen with the
edema, and her skin is leathery. She has what appears to be a rash on
her legs.
“George (the uncle) told us that he believes either she is being
haunted by her dead mother or is the victim of witchcraft. Therefore,
the grandparents from both the mother's and father's sides are to come
this weekend and give her a ‘blessing.’ They believe this will drive
away the evil spirits that are tormenting her and making her sick.”
Severe malnutrition
Eleanor Banda died on Dec. 28, 2008, in Kitwe, Zambia. The cause of death was listed as severe malnutrition.
I am extremely grateful to those who gave to the United Methodist
Global AIDS fund and to other projects caring for the children of AIDS
around the world. I know the problem of HIV/AIDS is complicated and
will take help from all of us—governments, churches, businesses — to
solve.
For me, it’s about Eleanor.
(The United Methodist Global AIDS Fund is an Advance Special of the
United Methodist Church, No. #982345. Write that number on the memo
line of a check and drop it in the offering plate of a local church or
make it payable to Advance GCFA and mail to Advance GCFA, P.O. Box
9068, GPO, New York, NY 10087-9068 . Credit-card donations may be made
by calling (800) 554-8583 or online at http://secure.gbgm-umc.org//donations/advance/donate_select_project.cfm.)
*Riendeau is associate director of mission and ministry outreach for
the United Methodist Indiana Conference (formerly of the North Indiana
Conference).
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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