Milla Happonen

Joy at Christmas

Today (December 21) we went to see Paulo. Paulo is an orphan. His mother died because of AIDS and his father left him. We do not know if he is still alive. He is 12 years old – the same age as our Anna. We went to wish him a merry Christmas and to bring some gifts that some people had sent to him from Finland. As we were packing some gifts to take to him, we remembered that the last 25 kms. may be muddy and difficult to pass. We took along rubber boots and made sure that the winch on the vehicle was working properly. Anna decided to come along and we went to the storage to get her boots. She had out grown her colorful boots, so we decided to take them along and give them as a gift for Paulo.

The joy that Paulo expressed when he was handed the boots was remarkable. The laughter rouse from deep within him and was so genuine: he was really happy. The laughter did not end there. Milla had remembered that Paulo liked ketchup. When we handed him a bottle of it, he broke out in jubilation once again.

Life has not been easy for Paulo. We first met him during his 7 month stay in the hospital. At that time most of his hair had fallen out; he was thin and so small and frail. Even though he is the same age as our Anna, he is about half of her size. He had been recently put on ARVs (the medicine that people use that have AIDS). The medicine is more effective when they are used in a holistic way: proper diet, sleep, exercise, etc. We helped him to vary his diet (which, by the way, did not set us back financially very much at all). What a change occurred. His health was restored, he was released from the hospital and taken back to his home. The people in the village cried when they saw him come there. Everyone had expected Paulo to return in a coffin, but he had returned healthy and full of life.

His sickness had made it impossible for him to attend school. His weak lungs does not allow him to walk longer distances, run and play like other children his age. He cannot walk the few kilometers to the closest school. So instead of taking him to school, we brought the school to him. For the first time, he is able to write his own name, to count and recite the alphabet.

Little things that we may take for granted can bring genuine joy and laughter for someone else. What is the greatest reward is to witness it and to know that you had a small part to play in it. Isn’t this what Christmas is all about? As the angels announced on the first Christmas: “I bring you good news of great joy.” In the eyes of one, they may seem insignificant: the birth of another baby; to others it the appearance of the Savior. What seems insignificantly small (like rubber boots, ketchup or writing your own name) may seem like a world of difference.

Hannu O. Happonen

Jouluriemu

Tänään ( 21.12.06.) menimme katsomaan Pauloa. Hän on orpo. Paulon äidin kuoltua Aidsiin, hänen isänsä jätti hänet. Emme tiedä, jos Paulon isä on vielä elossa. Paulo on 12-vuotias – saman ikäinen kuin meidän Anna. Me menimme toivottamaan hänelle hyvää joulua ja viemään muutamia lahjoja, joita hänelle oli lähetetty Suomesta. Autoa pakatessa muistimme, että viimeiset 25 km Paulon kotiin voi olla mutaisen ja vaikeakulkuisen tien takana. Otimme mukaan kumisaappaita ja tarkistimme, että auton kela vintturi toimisi kunnolla. Anna päätti lähteä mukaan ja otimme varastostamme hänenkin saappaansa mukaan. Annan värikkäät saappaat olivat kuitenkin jääneet liian pieniksi Annalle, mutta päätimme ottaa ne kuitenkin mukaan lahjaksi Paulolle.

Paulon ilmaiseva ilo, hänen saadessaan saappaat, oli merkittävä. Hänen syvältä sisimmästään nouseva naurunsa oli aitoa: hän oli todella iloinen. Hänen iloisuutensa ei loppunut siihen. Milla oli muistanut, että Paulo piti ketsupista. Antaessamme ketsuppipullon hänelle, hän alkoi nauraa kikattamaan uudestaan.

Paulon elämä ei ole ollut helppoa. Tapasimme hänet ensi kerran, kun hän joutui sairaalaan seitsemäksi kuukaudeksi. Hän oli laiha, pieni ja olemukseltaan niin hauraan näköinen: osa hänen hiuksistaankin oli pudonnut pois hänen päästään. Vaikka Paulo on saman ikäinen meidän Annan kanssa, hän oli puolta pienempi. Hänelle oli hiljattain aloitettu ARV-lääkitys (immunitteetia kohottava lääkitys, jota Aids potilaat saavat). Lääkitys on paljon tehokkaampaa, kun se käytetään holistisella tavalla: kunnon ruokavalio, tarpeeksi unta, liikuntaa jne.) Me osallistuimme lisäruuan hankintaan ( joka ei ollut meille vaikeaa suorittaa taloudellisesti). Mikä muutos tapahtui Paulossa. Hänen terveydentilansa parani ja hän pääsi pois sairaalasta takaisin kotiinsa. Kyläläiset itkivät hänet nähdessään. Kaikki odottivat hänen palaavan kotiin ruumisarkussa, mutta Paulo palasi terveempänä ja täynnä eläämää olevana.

Sairautensa vuoksi Paulolla ei ole ollut koskaan mahdollisuutta käydä koulua. Hänen huonokuntoisten keuhkojensa vuoksi hän ei jaksa kävellä pitkiä matkoja, juosta tai leikkiä kuten muut ikäisensä lapset. Hän ei kykene kävelemään muutamaa kilometriä lähimpään kouluun. Koska hän ei pysy menemään kouluun, me toimme koulun hänen luoksensa. Ensimmäistä kertaa elämässään Paulo osaa kirjoittaa nimensä, laskea ja lukea ääneen aakkosia.

Pienet asiat, joita pidämme itsestäänselvyyksinä voivat tuoda aitoa iloa ja naurua toisille. Meidän paras lahjamme oli saada olla mukana todistamassa Paulon iloa ja tietää että saimme pienellä osalla olla vaikuttamassa hänen iloonsa. Tätähän joulun pitäisi ollakin! Niin kuin enkelit ilmoittivat ensimmäisenä jouluna: “Minä ilmoitan teille suuren ilon!” Joidenkin mielestä mitään merkittävää ei tapahtunut: jollekin vain syntyi lapsi; mutta toisille se merkitsee pelastajan syntymistä. Mikä näyttää mitäänsanomattoman pieneltä (kuten kumisaappaat, ketsuppi tai oman nimen kirjoittaminen) voi muuttaa jonkun ihmisen koko maailman.

Hannu O. Happonen

Uncategorized

At the beginning of this year, Nassan’s wife Allen died of AIDS. Nassan himself had tested HIV positive as well as two of his five children. Nassan was desperate. The small earnings he managed to get from casual labor were used to buy medicine and food. The landlord who owned the run–down mud hut he and his children lived in (there were six sleeping in one small leaking room) was constantly threatening to sell off the plot and throw them out. He felt depressed and started to contemplate suicide and thought that death would be the best way for his children to escape the hell that they were living in.

Today (December 19), almost one year later, it was the house warming party for Nassan and his family in his new “Muyenga” house (that is the Ugandan way of saying “Beverly Hills Mansion”). We had met them when we had the “You Give Them Something to Eat” Christmas feeding and felt that this was one family we had to help.

Proudly Nassan took us around and showed us his sweet potato plantation, his coffee and other produce he had planted. He was full of enthusiasm as he shared with us his plans for what he is going to plant where and how he is going to get money from the produce.

It was almost inconceivable to imagine that this was the same person. We started rising the funds for the “Home for Christmas” project and now the time for it’s fulfillment had come. What a great Christmas gift for this family; but what an even greater gift for us who had been able to make this possible for them through the generous giving of so many from different parts of the world. Now I can truly say from experience that there is a lot of truth in that saying attributed to a carpenter from Nazareth: “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Nassan, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”(Psalm 126)

Hannu O. Happonen

Uncategorized

Helping Hands on Prime Time

There is a television program in Finland called “Kotistamaa” (“Home Port”) which portrays Finnish people living abroad and what they are doing. Last week we had a film crew and producer come to Mbuya (the area of town where we live) to make a segment on the work that Milla is doing.

A couple of days before the filming, the producer had gone around with Milla to meet some of the people that were being helped. They decided that Erina would be one that would be filmed. The night before the filming took place, there was a typical hard African downpour. When we went to Erina’s mud hut to film, the rains had caused one of the walls to collapse into the open sewer that was next to the house. You could not have written a better script.

We viewed the shots that were taken and are convinced that it will be a show worth watching. Watch YLE 1 in Finland in February on one of the Fridays (we do not know yet which one). It is on primetime, around 19:00.

Hannu O. Happonen

Helping Hands parhaaseen kateluaikaan

Suomen TV:ssä näytetään ohjelmaa “Kotisatama”, jossa kerrotaan, mitä ulkomailla asuvat suomalaiset tekevät. Viime viikolla filmikuvausryhmä tuli Mbuyan mäelle (kaupungin alue, jossa asumme) tekemään ohjelmanumeroa Millan tekemästä työstä.

Muutama päivä aikaisemmin filmauksen johtaja kierteli Millan kanssa tavaten ihmisiä, joita hän on auttanut. He päättivät, että Erina olisi yksi filmattavista. Filmausta edeltävänä yönä tuli trooppinen rankkasade. Kun menimme Erinan mutamajalle, yksi seinä oli sortunut avoimeen likaviemäriin, joka on hänen talon vieressä. Filmauksen kannalta ei olisi voinut kirjoittaa parempaa käsikirjoitusta. Katsottuamme otokset filmauksesta, olimme vakuuttuneita, että ohjelmasta tulee katsomisen arvoinen. Katsokaa ohjelma YLE1:ltä ensi helmikuussa, jolloin se näytetään jonain perjantai-iltana (emme vielä tiedä päivämäärää). Se näytetään parhaaseen TV:n katseluaikaan, klo 19.00.

Hannu O. Happonen

Uncategorized