07/03/2015

Good morning. Today I'm thinking about Aashira. I met her just outside the doctor's. That wasn't where I’d first seen her, though.

I’d seen her dance! Aashira had been abandoned as a baby, literally left by the side of the road, as many girls are in that part of the world. I sometimes wonder about her mother. She must have been so desperate!

By a miracle, Aashira was swept up by a project that takes in the discarded and provides foster mothers in little family communities. It began when one young man, far from his own land, was confronted by a small group of homeless children. He heard the call of God on his life to “look after orphans in their distress ” and to provide a home for them. With little money and no support, he took them in. Now, fifty years later, the project houses nine hundred children at any one time and it's one of the most beautiful, peaceful, and wholesome places I know.

It's where I saw Aashira dance. Aged about ten, she could perform highly-technical, traditional dance with the energy and controlled passion that made the audience hold its breath on that festival day.

Aashira was born HIV positive. That's why I met her outside the doctor's. She'd been in for a check-up. She’ll need both anti-retro viral drugs and a loving home to keep her jumping and spinning, learning and living.

So, Lord God, we pray today for all who work on the frontiers of science, determined to understand disease and overcome it. We thank you for that young man, now old and coming to the end of his life, who responded to your call. Help us to do the same. Amen. (290)