February 26, 2009
By Gina Riendeau

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.

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.

United Methodist News Service
Gina Riendeau is associate director of mission and ministry outreach for the United Methodist Indiana Conference (formerly of the North Indiana Conference).