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Touching
Stories
TOO LATE FOR ONE BIBI
By Jann Mitchell
The
53-year-old teacher had traveled far in the hot October
sun, riding in a rattley dalla-dalla, then walking several
miles through the village to the important meeting at the
school.
But
she did not come as a teacher. She came as a grandmother,
a bibi desperate to help her two grandchildren. The oldest
limped at her side, a girl partially crippled and also deaf.
The small boy remained at home, in kindergarten.
She
came to be interviewed and photographed, to be enrolled
in GRANDMA-2-GRANDMA, a program of the Bibi Jann Children's
Care Trust which finds sponsors for Dar-area bibis raising
their AIIDS-orphaned grandchildren.
By
now, I have heard many sad stories, but hers touched me
especially - for its generosity, bravery, and determination.
Like
many wives, the teacher had had to share her husband with
girlfriends. One of those girlfriends bore the husband two
girls, and when she died of AIDS contracted from the husband,
the bibi took those girls into her home. Her husband died
of AIDS in 1999, leaving her with their eight children and
his other two daughters.
And
- like many husbands - he left her with AIDS also. As if
she hadn't enough to worry about, an adult daughter died
of AIDS the next year, leaving her with the two grandchildren
to care for (and one of them handicapped).
It
was not easy. As her disease progressed, she could not work
many days. She grew so desperate she'd made this long trip,
waiting all day for the interview which held so much hope.
"How
can my children survive?" she asked. "My husband
get two girls from another woman outside, so I try to work
hard for this. I want a friend to help me with my daily
activities - especially the children to have education.
This is a big problem to me."
And
then her final plea: "Let God bless me with a friend."
I
worked hard to find her a friend, a sponsor who would help.
I supply potential sponsors with a list, and let them select
their own bibi and family, someone who resonates with their
own life, their own circumstances. (For instance, one sponsor
selected a bibi whose granddaughter wanted to become a daughter,
because her own daughter was a doctor). Our sponsors are
as far-flung as America and Australia, Sweden and Tanzania.
In
January, the sad news came. This bibi had died of her disease.
I do not know how the grandchildren are faring. I feel I
failed them all. I had not yet found her a "friend."
It
is too late for Leo. Yet so many grieving mothers like her
wait for help to feed and clothe and educate their beloved
grandchildren.
Please
step forward to give what you can. So that it's not too
late for another bibi and her family.
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