Haunted by hopelessness: 12 Zambians share their stories as HIV drugs run out

Reverend Billiance Chondwe of the Somone Community Center, a branch of the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Zambia, says that many in his congregation have fallen ill since late January when cuts to U.S. aid shuttered clinics. "We are close to 300 [worshipers] but nowadays we are only less than 150. People are sick at home." Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption toggle caption Ben de la Cruz/NPR From the pulpit, Reverend Billiance Chondwe counts the empty seats. "We are close to 300 [worshipers] but nowadays we are only less than 150. People are sick at home," says Chondwe — or Pastor Billy as everyone calls him — as he greeted congregants on a Sunday in early April at the entrance to his church, the Somone Community Center, a branch of the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Zambia. People are falling ill because the U.S.-funded clinics where they got their HIV medications and care have suddenly been shuttered. The staff is gone. The electricity has been shut off. Some patients have already run ou...