VOA常速英语2007-American Priest Brings AIDS Relief to Kenyan Slu

By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
31 October 2007

In the Kenyan capital Nairobi lives a priest named Father Ed Phillips.  For the past 14 years, Phillips has tended to the sick in one of the world's largest slums and conducted groundbreaking, but unheralded, research on AIDS.  Nick Wadhams has the story for VOA.

It was in 1993 Father Ed Phillips came to understand the devastating¹ effect of AIDS.  People were dying by the hundreds with no help from the Kenyan government or anyone else. 

The Mathare slum, where sewage runs down the streets, was huge, but its people seemed invisible beyond the tin shacks² where they lived.

At first, all he could do was help Mathare's AIDS patients die with as much dignity, and as little pain, as possible.  In those days, he and his nurses were seen as angels of death.

Fourteen years later, Phillips' Eastern Deanery AIDS Relief Program has treated more than 40,000 patients for AIDS and tuberculosis³.  He helped shape Kenya's national AIDS and TB policy, met President Bush and testified before the U.S. Congress.

Father Phillips' research routinely anticipates breakthroughs announced with fanfare⁴ somewhere else a year or two later.  All this from a missionary⁵ with no medical training beyond the books he has read, the conferences he has attended, and the patients his staff treat in Mathare.

"We just were responding to what we saw as a serious pastoral need that no one was talking about," Phillips said. "So people were dying, we found out what they were dying of, no one was talking about it.  So we just responded to a serious need in the world we were working in, in that section of the city."

On a recent day, Phillips headed into Mathare to visit patients.  The priest is a hero here, well known and loved.  Patients who cannot afford treatment, who would likely die without his help, welcome him happily.

The first thing to do is find an escort to guide him through Mathare.  After some time, one of Phillips' assistants with the Eastern Deanery, James, locates a man who will be able to navigate⁶ between the rival gangs that control the slum.

"So this gentleman is in charge of this area.  And he can guarantee the safety of visitors?  Of course yes, of course yes," James said. "As long as we are
together, there is no problem."

He was joined by two nurses from his program, Jane and Charity, who bring him to a woman named Julia, who has given birth to a child three days before.  Her home is tiny, just big enough for a bed, a television stand, and a couple of chairs.

Father Phillips looks on as Charity inspects the child.  He explains this is an AIDS affected⁷ family.

"Well, she's on anti-retroviral drugs now, the husband's on anti-retroviral drugs, the two-year-old baby is on anti-retroviral drugs, but she would probably be dead, the baby would be dead by now if they were not with us."

The 60-year-old Phillips was raised near Boston in the northeastern U.S. state of Massachusetts.  Ordained⁸ by the Roman Catholic Church in 1974, he moved to Tanzania as a missionary with Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, whose members live overseas for the rest of their lives.  He has spent more years in Africa than in the United States, and his Swahili has long been fluent, though it still bears a Boston accent.

He says things changed for his program in 2003, with President Bush's $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.  Criticized by some for its focus on faith-based organizations, the program has been a boon⁹ for Phillips,  The Eastern Deanery's budget is now just less than $2 million, almost all of it from PEPFAR

Father Phillips' program has a staff of 140 and is a leading provider of anti-retroviral drugs in Kenya.  It has shown that nurses, not physicians, can be responsible for administering the drugs, an idea that is just starting to take hold in the West.  Phillips has also built the program to be run entirely¹⁰ by Kenyans.

That means it can continue long after he is gone, something he worries about because fewer and fewer priests are heading abroad.

"I have no expectation for a member of my society to follow up on me.  Vocations¹¹ in the American Church are not a big issue right now," Phillips said. "So that has a major impact. Then you add on second thing, you want to become a priest, you ant to become a brother and then do you want to work overseas, that adds on an additional dynamic.  Just do what you have to do, keep on working, and our whole concept is, my system is set up, honest to God, if I take a heart attack tonight and die, the system, it should run itself."

As Phillips leaves the slum, children emerge to greet him.  He responds with handshakes, high-fives and Swahili greetings.

Back at the office, Phillips laughs about the surprising turn his life has taken.  He has helped invent a simple ointment¹² that effectively eases skin rashes.  And he has won over countless¹³ doctors with talks he has given at conferences around the world.

People confuse him with a medical doctor so often that he has even got a running joke.  Doctors will inevitably¹⁴ ask what area of medicine he specializes in.

 "G.P.," he will tell them. "General Practitioner¹⁵?" comes the inevitable¹⁶ response.  "Nope," Phillips will reply. "General Priest."  

1 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

2 shacks   

n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They live in shacks which they made out of wood. 他们住在用木头搭成的简陋的小屋里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most people in Port au-Prince live in tin shacks. 太子港的大多数居民居住在铁皮棚里。 来自互联网

3 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

4 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

5 missionary   

adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士

参考例句：

• She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
• I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。

6 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

9 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 vocations   

n.（认为特别适合自己的）职业( vocation的名词复数 )；使命；神召；（认为某种工作或生活方式特别适合自己的）信心

参考例句：

• The term profession originally denoted a limited number of vocations. 专业这个术语起初表示数量有限的职业。 来自辞典例句
• I understood that Love encompassed all vocations, that Love was everything "." 我明白爱含有一切圣召，爱就是一切。 来自互联网

12 ointment   

n.药膏，油膏，软膏

参考例句：

• Your foot will feel better after the application of this ointment.敷用这药膏后，你的脚会感到舒服些。
• This herbal ointment will help to close up your wound quickly.这种中草药膏会帮助你的伤口很快愈合。

13 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

14 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

15 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

16 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。