A crowded courtyard. Voices. Sunday morning.
There are at least 200 gathered, he estimates. They are smiling, singing, praising, with hands held high and eyes closed. Can this be the right place? It was hard for Marquette sophomore Tim Blattner, a high-schooler at the time, to comprehend that most of those gathered for the worship service are HIV positive, perhaps even near death. But just two years later, Blattner tells the story of his experience at the Faith Alive AIDS clinic in Nigeria not as one of despair but as one of hope.
A family of faith
The youngest of five, Blattner was raised in a household that placed emphasis on service and faith. He watched his father, William, an epidemiologist, travel to Nigeria to volunteer at the clinic for years, but had never accompanied him.
Beginning his senior year, Blattner pursued multiple service opportunities through his high school. When he wasn’t selected for any of the school-run summer service trips, his father suggested Blattner join him.
Just a few months earlier, Blattner’s older brother went on the trip and insisted Tim give the experience a try. He gave it some thought, and then decided he would join his family and a family friend on the June trip.
On the day of their departure, Blattner and his family flew from Washington, D.C., to London and landed in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. They spent one night in Abuja, and then drove three hours to Jos.
It rained every afternoon in Jos, and there was no running water, which made showering and going to the bathroom difficult. Sometimes, Blattner had difficulty sleeping at night because of how loud the animals were outside.
But these weren’t the things that stood out the most. A host family housed his family so the Blattners wouldn’t have to stay at a hotel or far away from the site. “They were the most kind and generous people I ever met,” he said, humbled by their enthusiasm and openness.
From service hours to lifelong mission
When he first arrived at the clinic to begin his volunteering, Faith Alive Founder Dr. Christian Isichei gave Blattner a tour of the clinic. One of the first places he visited in the clinic was the waiting room, filled wall-to-wall with one or two hundred people, half of whom would be diagnosed positive for HIV. Sometimes he would be introduced to “in-patients,” those who needed to stay overnight, because there was chance they would die in the night.
Blattner said a somber mood enveloped the room, making the moment almost unbearable.
“Their eyes were dead,” Blattner said. “It still haunts me to this day. I started crying.”
While Blattner’s original motivation for going was to earn his community service hours, he realized his presence was much greater than he could have imagined when he first decided to make the trip. “I felt I was ready to reach out and touch these people,” he said.
Recording reality
On the third day of the trip, Blattner’s digestive system took a hit from some of the native food he ate the night before, so he stayed behind during the morning session. While napping, he had a dream about his sophomore religion class and a video camera. Then the idea of creating a documentary about his experience began rolling in his head.
Blattner had never picked up a video camera or created any digital movie before in his life. But his family had brought along a camera for the trip, and he immediately felt this was the instrument he would use to share with others back home the story of his ten days.
“I just started videotaping, all week,” he said. At the end of the remaining days on the trip, he had over six hours of raw footage. He sat with patients and listened to their stories, moved by each one. “Despite the horrible reality, they are happy because they have faith,” he said.
Blattner said most of the patients at the clinic contracted AIDS through sexual intercourse and from HIV positive mothers breastfeeding their children. Prostitution is rampant in Nigeria, especially in poor communities where some women may feel that is the only way they can support their families. Blattner said a smaller amount of patients contracted the virus through blood transfusions and sharing needles.
Penrose
Blattner met many patients who came for testing, service or were being treated. But one in particular stood out to him: Penrose.
Penrose arrived at the clinic from Kenya, just ten days before Blattner. After being tested positive for HIV and starting treatment, drugs were failing him and he was near death.
When Blattner first walked into Penrose’s room, it was dark, and all he could make out was a man sitting stiffly on a chair. His arms and legs were so thin that they shaped to his bones, and Blattner could make out the outline of his skull from across the room. The only way he could describe it was “haunting.”
Some patients, like Penrose, were so near death that Blattner had to fight his body to keep from vomiting. At times, he became shaky at the mere sight of shots and blood.
“I just thought to myself, ‘What kind of a world am I living in?’ These people had nothing. I couldn’t understand it.”
Opening eyes and bringing hope
Since his return, Blattner has shown his 18-minute documentary on the trip to his high school as well as in several churches. The documentary has aided in raising approximately $5,000 in donations for the clinic as well as increasing awareness of the situation in Nigeria.
Blattner and his brother are working on a Web site for Faith Alive, www.faithalivenigeria.org, and hope to release the documentary on the Internet as well.
“I want people to know that they can help these people,” he said. “We have the technology to save these lives.”
Currently, Blattner is the treasurer of Watumishi, an AIDS awareness group on campus. He is also planning on returning to Nigeria in January and hopes to bring along a peer from Marquette.
“By me being there, I was able to provide hope for the people,” he said. In the next year or so, Blattner would like to bring a group of Marquette students to the clinic, coordinated either through Marquette or independently, so more students can have the same experience. Although it may be a daunting task to organize a trip or recruit interested students, Blattner said he is up for the challenge. “If you are called to go, the Lord will provide,” he said.
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