This is Sandhya's Story

Remember when I was willing my legs to move me towards that hospital room a few weeks back? Well, I was visiting a precious 9-year-old named Sandhya, and she died today.

Sandhya was suffering from HIV/AIDS. She had most likely contracted the disease at birth, for her mother was a Davidasi. In Hindi, dasi means slave, and davi means god. Therefore, working as a temple prostitute, her mother was a slave of god. Sandhya joined us at Visthar in an effort, I’m assuming of her grandparents but am not positive, to protect her from being dedicated as a temple prostitute as well. None of the other girls knew of her disease. In India, HIV/AIDS carries a stigma larger than an elephant and if they had known, the sad truth is that Sandhya may have been treated differently. But as it was, the girls were sisters. 70 loving, playful sisters.

Because Sandhya was sick, her immune system was lower than the others’. She caught cold a few weeks ago, which quickly progressed into a violent flu and pneumonia-like disease, bringing her to a nearby hospital and soon to one further away when the first could not provide the proper treatment for her. As Sandhya’s body grew weaker and weaker, the girls held long moments of personal prayertime before their mealtime prayers, crying and praying for the restoration of her health. But Sandhya was propelled towards jaundice and into a coma, which is when she passed away.

This is a part of the life cycle that I was not planning on experiencing while I was in India.

My organization has members from several different faiths, so we had a multifaith memorial service for small Sandhya. I don’t always agree with the theology that is used during these times together, but a few things did stick out to me. To keep things, short, these are the two points that I would like to share with you:

1. In times of hardship, pain, death, dying, and despair, we often comfort ourselves with the words, “It is God’s will.” I don’t know about you, but, in the moment, that isn’t very comforting to me and is very difficult to understand. Yes, it perhaps God’s will that this was the time for her short, sweet life to end and He is holding her now up in heaven, where she is no longer ravaged by disease. HOWEVER. Pain, death, dying, and despair are never a part of God’s will. Satan came to steal and destroy, but JESUS came to bring life, and life abundant (John 10:10). Sandhya’s death was the result of a deadly disease that was brought on by an oppressive tradition…neither of which were ever within God’s perfect plan for mankind, but the result of our own sin.

2. This is not just Sandhya’s story. All around the world, there are thousands of children dying from HIV/AIDS. Thousands. This is sometimes hard to understand until it is real, and in the world that you and I live in this number is often just a number. A sad number, but a number nonetheless. Now, that number has a name. That name is Sandhya. And Sandhya is only one.