A survey taken among 180 attendees at an Adventist Church HIV/AIDS workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe, earlier in the year revealed startling statistics: 48 percent said they would, as a church leader, support one of their members infected with HIV/AIDS;
A survey taken among 180 attendees at an Adventist Church HIV/AIDS workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe, earlier in the year revealed startling statistics: 48 percent said they would, as a church leader, support one of their members infected with HIV/AIDS; 68 percent view HIV/AIDS as a punishment from God; 25 percent said they would use the church to educate youth about sex and drugs.
These statistics were revealed during an HIV/AIDS workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 10 to 13. Dr. Allan Handysides, health ministries director for the Seventh-day Adventist world church who presented the findings, said the church “requires the inclusion of all. Inclusiveness is to the church as fire is to burning.”
The comments were made during an HIV/AIDS workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya, from November 10 to 13. The Nairobi event was co-sponsored by the church’s East-Central Africa Division, Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA), USAID, and The Policy Project Kenya. It drew experts from the African continent as well as from North America. Participants represented local churches and included pastors and church leaders, as well as people living with HIV/AIDS.
“We are in a crisis,” said Dr. Baraka Muganda, youth director for the world church, referring to the HIV/AIDS pandemic ravaging millions worldwide, but particularly in the sub Saharan countries of Africa where 29.2 million of a worldwide total of 42 million HIV/AIDS infected people live.
A key objective of the conference was to sensitize church leaders and members on the fear, denial and stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. “The church in Africa is coming to grips with the fact that they’ve got a major problem,” Handysides said. He urged attendees to “show love and compassion” to those with the disease.
Local leaders have called for voluntary testing for the disease, which only recently has become an option due to the cultural stigmas surrounding HIV/AIDS. Church health leaders said the testing will fight stigmas and denial. More and more people are coming forward to be tested and some admit they have the disease, according to Handysides.
“It’s beginning to open up the reality of this problem,” he said.
Believe Dhliwayo, an advocate for the HIV/AIDS cause and a person living with the disease, challenged delegates to notice that the stigma against those living with HIV/AIDS is very prevalent, even in the church. “Don’t feel sorry for me. It doesn’t do anything for me,” he said. He encouraged delegates to empower him by showing love.
Rose Otaye, a Kenyan living with HIV/AIDS, urged the church to address the cultural and traditional practices that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
A question conference attendees asked was “What is the role of the church regarding HIV/AIDS?” Many said the church has waited too long to face the realities of the disease, and that the church must be proactive—it must start talking about sex, sexuality and preventive methods for families that are in danger of contracting the disease or infecting their spouses.
The need for education on the issue is “absolutely stunning,” Handysides added. For every five people who die from the disease, nine more will contract it.
Participants of the Nairobi workshop endorsed a curriculum on human sexuality, from kindergarten through college, to be implemented in all Seventh-day Adventist schools in Africa in an effort to fight HIV/AIDS. The conference also voted to establish a Nairobi support group for those living with HIV/AIDS.
Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the world church, marveled at the “openness of which the issue has been approached, the strength of which the convictions have been expressed, and the serious effort to find realistic, practical, measurable responses to the challenge of HIV and AIDS.” He noted the Adventist Church will hold a pre-session meeting on this issue prior to the world church session in 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
