It is so hard to imagine, as they reach up at me, smiling ear to ear, asking for their turn to be swung around or helped down the slide, or trotted around as if on a pony, that each of these precious children -- with his or her own character and temperament and story and future -- is carrying a deadly virus. We visited Sparrow today. Sparrow is an AIDS orphanage and hospice center. It takes adults whose CD4 counts are 150 or less (200 is full-blown AIDS and 2000 is normal for a healthy person) and children who are HIV-positive and "abandoned," meaning orphans or children of parents who are unable to care for them. It offers housing, food, nursing care, social services and a real sense of community. Sparrow is an incredible sanctuary outside
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