KAMPALA, Uganda, November 28, 2002 — As nations around the globe mark World AIDS Day, Sunday December 1, 2002, a group of Christian leaders in Africa are taking a stand against the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease.
According to a new update released by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, 42 million people around the world are living with HIV/AIDS today. Almost 30 million of those live in Africa, where 6,000 people die in the epidemic daily; more than lose their lives to wars, famines or floods.
The leaders, pastors of churches representing 10 countries from across the African continent, gathered in Mukono town earlier this week. They assembled to share their stories and their HIV status, to support one another and to put out a call for an end to HIV/AIDS discrimination.
According to World Vision Communications Manager, Geoffrey Denye Kalebbo, who was there, the meeting was needed.
Hope comes from experiencing the suffering of others
| 42 million people around the world are living with HIV/AIDS today. Almost 30 million of those live in Africa. |
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- World Health Organization
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"Right now in Uganda, and I think it's the same in a lot of countries in Africa, we have a lot of prosperity gospel preachers," Kalebbo said during a telephone interview. "(They say) 'if you are good, if you don't sin, then God will definitely bless you. No disease should come your way' ... and you'll find that this is the mind that many Christians have in Africa. The feeling is that if you are poor, it's because somewhere, somehow you are not right with God. If you are sick, perhaps God is punishing you for some past sin."
"But there is hope," he added. "And the hope comes as a result of people experiencing others' suffering around them."
Kalebbo explained, "I guess in the beginning, (HIV/AIDS) seemed far off. It was easy (for Christians) to point fingers. It was easy to talk about people that did not have any close connection to you. But as time went by, it affected (everyone) individually. It was your sister. It was your brother. It was your mother. It was your father."
Kalebbo has personally watched 7 close relatives succumb to the disease.
Rev. Byamugisha declared he was HIV positive 10 years ago
Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha, 43, and an Anglican priest, was one of the clergy at the meeting. The first serving prelate in Africa to disclose publicly that he was living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, he declared he was HIV positive in 1992 immediately upon discovering he was carrying the disease. Since then, he has worked to educate his fellow Africans about all aspects of the disease, travelling, speaking and authoring books on the subject. Byamugisha works with World Vision's Hope Initiative as a liaison between the organization, churches and faith-based organizations, encouraging other religious leaders to engage in helping stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
| "There are church leaders that use AIDS to control their congregations and there are those that use their congregations to control AIDS." |
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- Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha, 43, Anglican priest, living with AIDS.
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Byamugisha is living up to his name. His parents named him Gideon, he says, after the Biblical figure of the same name. "(My parents) got it from the Bible, about a man who wanted to serve God, but was fearful ... but later on God said, 'I want you to serve me, and I will be with you and I will strengthen you.' It's one of the names I treasure most," he said.
There are two kinds of clergymen in Africa, says Byamugisha, "There are church leaders that use AIDS to control their congregations and there are those that use their congregations to control AIDS."
The retreat was the second of its kind, the first having been organized this past summer by friends of Byamugisha out of concern that he was shouldering a burden too large for one man to bear.
'Now I can go and rest in peace'
At this week's retreat, the church leaders resolved to commit themselves to working to eliminate the stigma and discrimination towards people with HIV/AIDS. Several members of the clergy also announced their HIV positive status for the first time. Witnessing that kind of support, says Byamugisha was an affirmation of his work.
"I felt like Simeon in the Bible, who after seeing the baby (Jesus) said, 'now I can go and rest in peace.' Now I don't have to carry the burden alone in the African continent. Now I have resource people I can call upon in the struggle, in advocacy, in training seminars, and also in testimony."
Asked what message he would most like to convey to North American Christians, the prelate said, "We love you. We treasure your support and your contributions and we encourage you to do more and to pray more, remembering us."
For more information, see www.worldvision.ca .
Source: Patricia L. Paddey, Bible Network News
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