Bible church raises funds to help deal with AIDS in Africa
By Bill Rea

Dr. Tim Teusink outlined some of the work done by Serving In Mission in Ethiopia.

AIDS is a problem that's not going to go away any time soon in Africa, but there are many efforts under way to help address the situation, both in terms of controlling the disease and taking care of the victims.

A large crowd was out at King Bible Church recently to hear about the work of Serving In Missions (SIM) in Ethiopia.

Dr. Timothy Teusink related some of the tragic stories he has encountered in his work there, along with many of the tales of hope.

The event raised $11,942.25, and Mike White, a member of the church committee that helped organize it, said all the money will be going to the AIDS relief work of SIM in Ethiopia.

White cited United Nations information that AIDS is the most devastating disease that mankind has ever faced. The result is a lot of gutwrenching stories, but he added there are also a number of cases of encouragement and hope, and that's having an impact too.

The face of AIDS is different in Africa than it is in this part of the world. White pointed out the culture in Africa doesn't give woman as much power to resist the advances of their husbands, meaning it's easier for them to become infected, and the women can then spread the disease to their children, either at birth or through breast feeding.

Lisa Parenteau read some stories of young people in Africa who have to deal with AIDS, contained in Our Stories, Our Songs by Deborah Ellis.

There are more than 14 million AIDS orphans in Africa, White said, or twice the total number of children in Canada, and about one million of them are in Ethiopia.

Teusink, the director for SIM's HIV/AIDS prevention and care ministries in Ethiopia, stressed it's real people who are both doing the ministering in Ethiopia and suffering from the disease.

"It takes more than medicine," he observed, adding the situation is much more complex, pointing to problems in society and the world. Simple medical care is not going to make it go away.

He spoke about SIM's HOPE strategy, which is an acronym for home-based care, orphan care, prevention and enabling.

There is a lot of need for care in homes. Teusink said there are 41 million cases of AIDS in the world, and almost 70 per cent of them (some 28 million) live south of the Sahara, according to U.N. data. About 6,000 Africans die of the disease daily, and another 12,000 are infected, and about 90 per cent of them don't even know they have the virus. Is some places, 40 per cent of the population is infected.

He also cited U.N. statistics that the illness is getting more prevalent in girls as young as five. Part of that is because of the lower status of girls in their society.

But there is also some good news on the continent. Teusink said things have turned around in Uganda, which has seen the greatest decline in AIDS in the world since 1991. The current president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, had a vision and drew government, secular and religious agencies together to focus on the disease. They also received help from the government of Cuba, who realized just how serious things were. Authorities in Uganda put an emphasis on primary behavioural change.

"It's been a tremendous success," Teusink remarked, citing figures compiled by Harvard that if that example could be followed throughout the continent, AIDS in Africa could be reduced by 80 per cent.

Teusink said the goal of the church in Ethiopia is to make sure it's equipped for the fight. To that end, it is working to mobilize the roughly five million members in the about 6,000 churches to work toward preventing the disease, getting rid of the attached stigma and working with the victims.

The churches have been offering clinics in the major cities where people can go for free HIV testing and counselling, all done within a Christian context.

"It's just amazing to see the response to this," he declared.

Teusink said there are many pregnant young women, and about a third of them are expected to pass the virus on to their children, so there is a prevention program to try and address that. In one city, the program was only able to reach about 10 per cent of the population. But the regional health officials were so impressed, they asked the church to expand the program to cover the whole city and its four million inhabitants.

The program provides medical care and training. He added babies who receive the proper medication at birth are 80 per cent less likely to have the virus transmitted to them by their mothers.

Home care is also important because many AIDS victims live on the streets, and many of the pastors who work with them don't have a lot of theological training. Their advice of saying the name "Jesus" before sex is not going to offer much protection.

"This is an area where church needs to be involved on the ground," he said.

In many cases, girls lose their parents, and become involved in commercial sex work. "We see this happening again and again," Teusink remarked, adding there are about 300,000 street kids in Ethiopia, some as young as four or five.

SIM tries to work with all denominations, and some of them have come up with

interesting ways to bring the message to their congregations. Teusink told of one orthodox priest who established a row of shacks for AIDS victims, which members of his congregation have to pass on their way to church.

There's also a program of providing retro-virals in the homes. They don't cure anything, but they help prolong life.

Teusink's work in Ethiopia involves theological education, working with current and future pastors. A lot of the church people there have not had to deal with sexuality issues from a Biblical perspective. These people ask a lot of questions. He tells them that sharing God's word about AIDS doesn't make people less worthy of that word, and he added it's a great opportunity to stress the point that everyone's a sinner.