That all changed when he made a profession of faith. He not only started attending church, he helped plant seven new ones.
Elvin Trueb,* a Christian worker who helped disciple Navin, observed that once the new believer’s mind was clear and his heart open, the man was emotionally moved by the plight of the helpless in his Indian community.
Abandoned children with HIV especially moved Navin to action. They suffer not only from lack of medication that would give them a chance at life, but also from neglect by their families and some medical personnel who are afraid to touch them.
Uninformed that HIV doesn’t transmit by casual touch, some families leave their sick children to fend for themselves on the streets. Often, wives contract the disease from their husbands who had unprotected sex with someone in the sex trade, then the woman conceives a child with the disease. Many times, the mothers are too sick to care for the child or end up dying. Those forced into sex trafficking also commonly fall victim to the disease and are discarded.
“It is thought of as a shameful condition, and victims are neglected due to fear,” Trueb says, “but we want to make sure they know they are not neglected by God.”
When Navin saw 45 of these HIV street children lined up each day outside a hospital begging for what could be life-saving medicine, he couldn’t stand not to get involved. He began volunteering at the hospital, advocating for HIV patients. He wasn’t afraid to touch them to hand them food or help them walk to the bathroom. He sought training in HIV patient care, becoming authorized to dispense medication to them.
Navin came to Trueb with an idea: the formation of a children’s home where a group of these children could receive regular care, medication, food, housing and education. To fund the effort, the One HIV Children’s Home project through OneLife was created.
Contributions so far have enabled the construction of the children’s home on a believer’s land, so the home will not have to pay rent to a landlord. It will have a schoolroom, where local believers plan to teach the children. Slated to open in summer 2015, the plans call for space for 30 of the children to stay.
Give
Equip the children’s home with basic supplies, such as $1,500 for bunk beds, $1,000 for mattresses, $200 for a washing machine and $30 for plates.
Fund day-to-day child care costs: $2.18 per child per day.
Give to this One HIV Children’s Home project through OneLifeMatters.org/HIV
