Emmanuel
AIDS Storiesby Ryan Day
This is part one of a four-part series of stories Ryan Day recorded this summer in Nigeria. Here is Ryan's story.
In his own words, Emmanuel “lived a very dirty life” as a young
man. After many years of living like this, he decided to change his ways and
commit his life to the church. As he followed this new path, he felt called
to enter seminary and begin training to become a pastor.
As part of his seminary training, he began encouraging people to get tested for HIV. While he was going around speaking on this subject, he became convicted that he should take the test himself, even though he firmly believed that he could not be positive since he had been baptized into the church. When the test came back positive, his whole world was shaken. As he put it, “[I wondered] how can a pastor be infected? If God has said he has forgiven your sins, and he has cleansed you, I felt I shouldn't be infected."
At first, he was able to hide his HIV+ status from his family and fellow students, and he didn’t want them to know out of fear for how they would treat him. Since he was paying for HIV medications out of his own pocket, he soon came to a point where he was faced with a terrible decision: stop taking the lifesaving drugs or resort to desperate measures to get the money. He stole some money from his roommate, and when it was discovered he was summarily expelled from the seminary. He tried to explain his situation to the administrators, but they didn’t offer him any compassion.
Back on his own, Emmanuel thought, "If I told people [about my HIV status] in the seminary, and they couldn't show me love, how will I start telling people outside?" He continued to hide his status, and his health began to deteriorate. Eventually his became so sick that he had to move home, where his parents cared for him By this point, almost all of his friends and family had given him up for dead.
In complete desperation, he came to Faith Alive clinic looking for help. Dr. Isichei agreed to treat him, and provided the medication free of charge. With the medical help and encouragement he received at the clinic, he began to recover and stabilize his health. Eventually, he joined the Faith Alive staff and now works hard organizing the food bank and teaching discipleship classes. Here is how he describes his transformation:
"I determined in my heart that I'm going to use the story of the virus living in me, using it as a means, and a channel, of reaching out to people, and challenging them to the kingdom and to Jesus Christ, our ultimate savior and healer. That is what I determined to do, and the Lord has been so gracious to me. Most of the people I talk to are people living with the virus, so I derive joy and happiness from talking with them, and sharing with them my experiences. In fact, it gives me a fulfillment, I discover that God always has reasons for letting certain things happen to one, and if my being positive, today, if that is the reason why God allowed me to be alive, I am very grateful to God, and I will continue to serve God with all of my heart."
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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