Nata Village
Hey =)
I was reading a blog called the Nata Village Blog that I had subscribed to in my Bloglines account, and I found one post that I found quite interesting!
There was a picture of a lady named Noreen. She is a frequent visitor to the Nata Clinic because she was tested positive for HIV four years ago and has been on ARV’s for the past three years. Noreen had no side effects from her ARV’s, but last year she began getting severe headaches. Her blood pressure had been elevated and she went to the clinic because of weakness and cramping. She had been vomiting so the doctor felt she may just be dehydrated and believes that starting an IV and giving glucose will fix her up. Noreen gave permission to be photographed and be part of the Nata Village website. She said there is no reason to hide and that we must face our problems rather than run from them. I thought that this was extremely courageous of her, and I thought that it was wonderful that she decided to be photographed and put on the website. Way to go, Noreen! I hope you’re feeling better soon!! =)
Here is a picture of Noreen.
I continued to read more on the Nata Village blog and I found another post that caught my eye. There was a picture of a child on a bike, but when I read further, it said that most children don’t even have one store-bought toy and they have to make their own toys. When they do get a store-bought toy, it doesn’t last long because there are so many other people using it. I thought this was extremely sad. When you think about all the stuff that we have today, we don’t think it really means anything to us, when really, it does. We have so many store-bought toys that we don’t even know what to do with them all, and we never stop to think how grateful we are to have all of the things we do. We are lucky. And if everyone donated something unwanted by them to Nata Village, think about the changes we could make! Life would be much easier for the people in Nata Village and we would feel a lot better about ourselves. We can make a difference. All we have to do is realize how lucky and grateful we are, and give unwanted items to Nata Village and other less fortunate places around the world.
Here is a picture of a child on a bike.
The Nata Village blog is extremely important and has a lot of excellent information. If you are interested in seeing it, which I hope you are, click here.
*April 
November 5th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
Wow! That is courageous of her. She looks terrible in that picture(her sickness and all, not her facial features or anything like that). I could never imagine being in that condition, especially being tested positive for HIV. I hope she feels better soon too.
It is amazing how we ask for so many things like ipods and laptops, when there are kids in the world that can’t even afford to have a store-bought toy. Now that I think about it, It makes me feel really bad and that I have been really selfish, wanting a lot of things that I didn’t really need. You’re also right. We need to give unwanted items to Nata Village and other unfourtunate places in the world. It’s not just the unfourtunate places, though. It could also be who the people are. For example, you could be homeless in big cities like New York.
As I am writing this comment down on this wonderful blog, I am starting to realize how lucky I am. Not only being born into a wonderful family in a wonderful community, but having so many opportunities in life that others can’t. I know I’m not the richest, or the smartest, but I’m living a good life. And to those people who are suffering out there, don’t give up hope. Hang on until the thing you are holding onto disappears. Try and if you don’t succeed, try again until you do.
Keep up the good work, April!