Nujon sat down next to Srinuan in the woman’s house and held her hand. Startled, Srinuan asked, “How can you do that?”
Nujon replied, “Because I love you.”
“I can’t believe you would do that!” Srinuan replied. Srinuan would later give her life to Christ. Now healthy, she has traveled around southern Thailand starting ministry groups to reach out to people with HIV/AIDS.
During an interview in Chicago this week, Nujon explained to news editor Stan Friedman how the “power of touch” is transforming the lives of people considered untouchable. Evangelical Covenant Church missionary Jim Gustafson translated (accompanying photo shows Nujon with Gustafson during the interview).
To read an earlier story about the new center and its relationship with the Department of World Mission, click here.
Q: What is it like for you to see these people with HIV/AIDS who have no one to care for them?
I don’t see them as having AIDS. I see them as people who are at risk or have a disadvantage or are marginalized because their bodies aren’t working normally. I see them as people who don’t have the resources they should have.
Actually you can see that they have AIDS because you look at them and know. As you walk into the communities, you see that they have AIDS, but they want to be embraced, they want to be hugged, they want to be encountered. And as we encounter them, it gets to the point of weeping, because it gets so heavy in terms of its meaning. That’s why I don’t see them as AIDS people. I see them as people in need.
Q: What does hugging mean to these people in a culture where it is not common?
Even families – fathers, mothers and kids – don’t hug. There’s no cultural freedom for that. There’s a huge difference when people hug. The root of it is relationship. Deep relationship. It’s a symbol that we are deeper in family at that point than sometimes even in our own families because we are free to hug. It’s a connection, and it’s an affirmation of relationship.
As I hug people, especially in the HIV/AIDS community, it’s like I’m saying I’m all yours. I’m totally and without reservation, yours.
And it’s an embracement of commitment to them as well. And they know that I’m not pulling myself away from them and saying “You poor people” or that I’m not trying to be arrogant. I am saying, “I am with you.” That’s God’s word: “I am with you.”
I sit in their hearts, and as I sit in their hearts, I’m embraced by them.
“People who are infected with AIDS are afraid of normal people . . . they’ve experienced so many bad things from them . . .”
Q: Why are people with HIV/AIDS looked down upon?
It’s because people are afraid of the AIDS. Intellectually and academically they understand that they won’t catch it just by being with people who have AIDS. But it’s because of the fear that just being near people with AIDS will cause them to get the disease.
Q: Do people ask if you are afraid of touching people with AIDS?
It’s not just that the normal people are afraid of people with HIV/AIDS, but people who are infected with AIDS are afraid of normal people. They’ve experienced so many bad things from them, that there’s a natural fear.
Q: You mention AIDS communities. Are these places where they are living together?
It’s not that they’re living in the same places, so that they’re geographical communities. It’s a relational community. Even though they may be in different parts in the south, it is like they are in the same house and the same family because their relationship is so strong.
Q: How have you been affected by spending time with people who have HIV/AIDS?
As I touch, as I eat food with them, they are so open and so embracing that it just comes into my heart, and it floods me with that relationship. I’m overwhelmed by the grace of God at that point with that relationship, even more than with people who don’t have AIDS.
