Odds and ends and aids
Michael JohnsonODDS and ENDS and AIDS
Sure makes you feel good doesn t it? Imagine that we as a nation have made such great strides
to help the poor Africans afford HIV/AIDS medicines by drastically reducing the price to a point
cheaper than they can be bought in America. At the equivalent of $6 per month, a patient can
receive all of the necessary medicines they need, plus the doctor's visit, plus the laboratory
diagnoses to keep them healthy.
What a bargain , you might say! Well it is true it is a rock bottom price when you compare
what it costs in America.
But it is only a bargain in Africa if one does away with food and the other odds and ends. Odds
and ends like, water, shelter, health care, clothing and other inconsequential things. Yes, you
have odds, and ends, and AIDS. What a set of choices!
The cost of $6 per month represents 20% of the income for the average Kenyan family, existing
on less than $1 per day or $30 per month. If one family of six has one member of the family
with HIV/AIDS, that translates to 20% of the income going to just the drugs to try to keep that
one member alive. If there is inadequate food within the family, even the one receiving
treatment has a hard time surviving the side effects of the drug and the other members will of
course be malnourished as well.
It is quite a bargain if you do away without food and the other odds and ends. Yes, it comes
back to odds, and ends, and AIDS.
The United States currently provides literally billions of dollars in AIDS relief for several
African nations. The toll of AIDS is mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Ten percent of the world's
population has a total of 67% of this disease burden. There are virtually no factories producing
any of the medicines for the disease or the opportunistic infections which kill people carrying the
virus. Hence, the African continent serves as a veritable financial windfall for drug companies
receiving US taxpayer s money as a subsidy for their profits, and providing no real relief of
disease burden for the continent. Fewer than 10% of the people who need the life saving drugs
will ever receive them given the current distribution process.
Let us keep our lives in the perspective of the rest of the world. We can do more. We must do
more to make a real difference in Christ s name.
It is not the responsibility of the government, drug companies, charitable or humanitarian
organizations to meet this need. It is the responsibility of those who claim Christ.
What are the odds and ends we are willing to do without to help others know His love? What
bargains are we willing to forego at the local malls to make a real difference in the life chances
of people halfway around the world? God is watching what bargains we choose. Choose wisely.
Choose to give and give generously!
MICHAEL AND KAY JOHNSON –
Michael and Kay Johnson have been involved with overseas missionary work since 1984. Their work has included a brief trip to Zaire (Congo), where they worked in Tandala Hospital for a period of 7 weeks and again to Kenya in 1987 for a period of 7 weeks. They began full time work overseas in 1989 when they were accepted with World Gospel Mission of Marion, Indiana to work at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya East Africa.
Michael was born and raised in Chicago Illinois. Kay was born and raised in the Ann Arbor community of Michigan. They both knew Christ as Savior when they met and married while Michael attended the U of M medical school and Kay attended Eastern Michigan University.
The Lord called them to Kenya after a few years in private practice in Philadelphia.
The Johnsons now make their home in Kenya to helping provide health care to the over 30,000 street children of Nairobi and to help in the training of Kenyan physicians. They are also involved with several development projects, providing schools, water sources, farming and medical assistance to underdeveloped communities. Through these ministries, many orphaned children are now being placed in Christian families by adoption and foster care.
The Johnsons have four adult children, Elijah 28, Christina 26, Emmanuel 23 and Keturah 20 years of age.
