VOA标准英语2010-Ghana Ministry Helps HIV/AIDS Patients

A volunteer health worker retrieves¹ blood sample for an HIV-AIDS detection test on a patient on 18 Jun 2008 in Noe, a city in Ivory Coast close to the Ghana border

While Ghana has one of Africa's lowest HIV infection rates, prejudice and poverty compound the difficulties facing those who have the virus that causes AIDS.  One Christian² ministry³ that is helping⁴ those living with HIV/AIDS.

 

Monsignor Bobby Benson began the Matthew 25 Ministry in 1998 after meeting an AIDS patient in the United States.

It is based near Ghana's eastern city of Koforidua in a region with one of the country's highest HIV infection rates.  In the years since, Benson's center has helped hundreds of patients and is currently home to 70 people with HIV/AIDS.

"Word goes round, they are referred to this house by the hospitals and laboratories," said Benson.  "Once a person is infected many a times the victim does not know where to go to, so they say go to Matthew 25 House."

The man known locally as Father Bobby says the center also helps children orphaned⁵ by the disease.

"A number of children have been left behind by HIV/AIDS patients so we take care of them," added Benson.  "We have 98 children we are supporting in the house for the past 10 years.  Two are finishing university and polytechnic⁶ this year."

Benson says AIDS patients who are still living on their own receive food from the center.  Those who can no longer support themselves move in.

"We try to provide accommodation for those who cannot afford, we pay their medical bills, we pay their transport anytime they come to this house because most of them are not working," explained Monsignor Benson.

A 35-year-old mother of two who does not want her name used in this story says she tried to commit suicide when she learned that her husband died of AIDS and left her HIV positive.

After trying to poison herself, she says a nurse brought her to the Matthew 25 House.  Eight years after testing positive, she is still alive.  She says sometimes you leave home with a heavy heart, but when you get to Matthew 25 everything comes back to life in the support you get from counseling and from Father Bobby.

But she has still not disclosed her HIV status to her family because she says when people know you are HIV positive they do not want to come near you for fear that they too might become infected.  She has not even told her sister because she is afraid her sister might reject her daughter if she knew.

Benson says prejudices against people with HIV/AIDS have frustrated⁷ efforts to supplement the donations that keep the center running.  They have tried selling charcoal⁸ and sewing school uniforms.

"We also produce palm oil, but again we do not get market," said Benson.  "Once people know it is produced by Matthew 25 they would not buy our oil.  We have some in the warehouse⁹ right now.  We also do funeral undertaking¹⁰ so we have two hearse services which the public comes to access.  Most of our clients have learned how to produce tie-and-dye batik.  But again we are not into production on a high scale because unless we get a market, or an organization says, 'Produce so much for us,' then we do it."

Benson says despite progress in lowering the country's HIV infection rate, Ghanian society has still not learned to accept that HIV-positive people can lead normal lives.

"What baffles me is that we buy all kinds of food items from the roadside.  We do not know who is producing them. Somebody may be HIV positive, but we do not know, and we buy the food and enjoy it," noted¹¹ Benson.  "But as soon as you get to know a person is HIV positive you are afraid of the person.  It is a pity the public is afraid of HIV, as if a person with HIV is the worse person under the planet.  But they are human as we are.  As for the stigma¹², it is still there.  You will be surprised this very house we are sitting here is highly stigmatized¹³, but we do not have a problem.  We are still doing what we are doing."

When confronted with that stigma, Benson takes comfort in the Bible passage of Matthew 25 itself, in which the Lord says: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Additional reporting by Ruby Amable in Ghana
 

1 retrieves   

v.取回( retrieve的第三人称单数 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）

参考例句：

• The mole comes in later, retrieves the item and packs it back in his gear. 鼹鼠随后到达，找回东西然后用他的传送装置返回。 来自电影对白
• Retrieves the pitch of the current image, in bytes. 得到代表目前图像斜度的字节数。 来自互联网

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 orphaned   

[计][修]孤立

参考例句：

• Orphaned children were consigned to institutions. 孤儿都打发到了福利院。
• He was orphaned at an early age. 他幼年时便成了孤儿。

6 polytechnic   

adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校

参考例句：

• She was trained as a teacher at Manchester Polytechnic.她在曼彻斯特工艺专科学校就读，准备毕业后做老师。
• When he was 17,Einstein entered the Polytechnic Zurich,Switzerland,where he studied mathematics and physics.17岁时，爱因斯坦进入了瑞士苏黎士的专科学院，学习数学和物理学。

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

9 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

10 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

13 stigmatized   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was stigmatized as an ex-convict. 他遭人污辱，说他给判过刑。 来自辞典例句
• Such a view has been stigmatized as mechanical jurisprudence. 蔑称这种观点为机械法学。 来自辞典例句