wfn.org | Bishop May shaken by Africa visit

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 13, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn. 10-31-71BP {197}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this story.

By Dean Snyder*

BALTIMORE (UMNS) -- A trip to Africa as part of a Presidential Mission on
Children and AIDS "brought me to my knees during Holy Week," said United
Methodist Bishop Felton Edwin May.

White House AIDS Czar Sandra Thurman invited May to be part of a 20-member
delegation of congressional members, White House staff, and community
leaders who visited Zambia, Uganda and South Africa from March 27 to April 5
to help shape the U.S. response to the AIDS crisis in Africa.

"There is no way anyone could not be shaken when one sees with one's own
eyes, and smells and holds death," said May, leader of the church's
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. "Adults are dying rapidly, yes,
youth, young adults, but it's the children laying in small cribs row upon
row in orphanages and hospices, and in home care situations, that not only
tugs at the heart but makes one want to cry out."

AIDS has left 35 million children orphaned in 23 African countries,
according to a U.S. Agency for International Development study. As many as 1
million children are born HIV-positive annually, the study showed.

"The hospitals are loaded; the clinics are loaded; the orphanages are
loaded," May said. 

The bishop praised health workers he met from African and U.S. governmental
agencies, non-governmental organizations and churches. "I am in no way
criticizing the efforts of political leaders, health care providers and the
churches," he said. "But the numbers are just so awesome. Some liken it to
genocide."

He was impressed by the efforts of President and Mrs. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
of Uganda. "The first lady has developed programs for women and girls
emphasizing prevention, care and AIDS education," May said. HIV-infected
Ugandan youth have formed groups that put on plays, poetry readings and
musical performances.  

"One thought was prevalent in all of their performing: 'change your
lifestyle and live,' " May said. "I've never seen such talented young
people, but they're all infected."

Other participants in the mission included Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
(D-Michigan, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
(D-Texas). The offices of Sens. Orin Hatch, Jesse Helms and Ted Kennedy were
represented. Former New York City mayor David Dinkins and documentary
producer Rory Kennedy also participated.

May led impromptu religious celebrations for delegation members, including a
Maundy Thursday service, Easter sunrise worship and a Passover Seder. 

"One of my roles was to give a balance between a political answer and a
theological and religious answer, and to continue to remind the delegation
we're not dealing with systems alone but with people -- flesh and blood,"
May said. "I've been able to share the perspective of Christ, as well as the
work of our denomination and the General Board of Global Ministries, in a
setting that included some of the best political, social and medical minds
we have in this country."  

Since returning, May has proposed a four-part agenda for a United Methodist
response to AIDS in Africa.  He believes the church should:
*	lobby pharmaceutical companies to help them understand that it is
their humanitarian responsibility to provide drugs to treat HIV-AIDS in
third world countries;
*	expand its hospitals, clinics and orphanages in Africa and redouble
efforts to secure Volunteers in Mission to staff them, as well as facilitate
partnerships between  United Methodist hospitals and agencies in the United
States with their counterparts in Africa, including the exchange of doctors,
nurses and other care providers; 
*	encourage American businesses to adopt personnel policies in Africa
that would enhance the health of their workers; and
*	affirm the U.S. government's current work and insist on increased
funding for Africa.

AIDS in Africa has moved beyond an epidemic; it is a pandemic, May said.
"I've known it was bad and had read about how bad it is, but now I've had a
chance to see it, smell it, touch it and comfort it."
#   #   #
*Snyder is director of communications for the United Methodist Church's
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.

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