Or, what would you do if you were a "market mom." You tell your kids on certain mornings that you're off to market…or you wait until they are gone so no excuses are required. Then you take an empty shopping bag and go. The walk is several miles. The temperature soon climbs to 110 degrees.

But your family needs food today--except that you have nothing to sell from your garden and none of the baskets or cakes or other small items that you sometimes peddle. Today even your pockets are empty. Yet your family needs food: The rains are late; harvests are poor; your husband is gone; there is nothing in the house. What would you do?

Five, or seven, or ten hours later, you are finally heading home. It's just as far as it was this morning and just as hot. The day has been difficult, to say the least. You struggle to put it and any thought of the risks you took out of your mind. You remind yourself that the market draws people from all over and you don't think anyone you know saw you there. If they did they could not have known that you had arrived empty-handed.

And now there's food in your basket. You will soon be a mother again. Your children will eat today.

Rose lives in Nairobi, Kenya. If her situation speaks to us even a little, perhaps we can appreciate what Jesus would do. Imagine what his eyes could say to her. Wonder how his words would sound. Watch for his healing touch.

This Jesus has told us to see him in Rose…and help. How? The concern, the understanding, the prayers and the gifts you have placed in Lutheran World Relief's hands already support a shantytown program for Rose and help stop HIV where she lives. A social worker named Sophie—part of that program—is the one who encouraged Rose to get tested, stood by her when the results came back, visits her often, and is doing her best to help Rose not pass the virus on to others.

"I don't know what to say about Sophie," says Rose, "because she helps me so much." Sophie sees that Rose gets basic medical care. She has a neighborhood group standing by to be there when Rose falls ill. And, like a real friend, she has found some money to help Rose with the rent.

'Market mom' lives in rural Senegal. She is someone Jesus might meet at a well. Would he make it rain so her garden grows? Bring her migrant worker husband back? Cause him to send more money home? Or, join the young farmers group in her village—because they are securing water supplies, improving local
agriculture, and teaching people all the ways to stop HIV?

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Other Articles of Interest:

Standing With Africa
by LWR President, Kathryn Wolford

"The Reality of HIV/AIDS in Africa"
An article written by Asenath Omwega, LWR Regional Representative East Africa

Stand With Africa: A Campaign of Hope?
Written by Cathie DeGonia, Stand With Africa Campaign Communication Coordinator