wfn.org | Namibian Pastor Describes Challenge of AIDS in African Nation

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 20, 2000

NAMIBIAN PASTOR DESCRIBES CHALLENGE OF AIDS IN AFRICAN NATION
00-221-MS*

     PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Imagine being the manager of
religious broadcasts for a national broadcast service where it is
predicted one-half of your listeners will be dead within 10 years.
     That's one-half of a nation of 1.6 million persons, many of
them Lutherans. Forecasts project "a dramatically high death toll
from AIDS and related complications," said the Rev. Nathan Kapofi,
an executive of the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation. Hardly any
families have been spared the agony of AIDS.  In the midst of a
living plague, Kapofi's daily challenge is to plan how to
broadcast the "Good News" to a young nation.
     It is a dramatically different challenge than what Namibia
faced just 20 years ago, when AIDS was unknown and Namibia was
striving for independence from its servitude as a colony of South
Africa.  Kapofi told his story during a recent visit to the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, one of eight
seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  He
graduated from the school in 1989.
     How did it get this bad? "Many of our people have been in
denial about this epidemic," Kapofi said. "The church preaches
abstinence and promotes sexual purity and being faithful to one
marriage partner. But it is difficult to maintain such values in a
climate of much alcohol abuse and illiteracy. Our plight is
heartbreaking," he said. Ninety-three percent of the population of
Namibia is Christian.
     While the broadcasting service Kapofi helps to manage is
state-run, the government is highly sympathetic to religious
broadcasting. Broadcasts are in nine languages and the programming
includes worship services, devotional programs and counseling
programs for all ages, including shows directed to youth, married
couples, older persons and shut-ins. Christian education is also a
focus of some broadcasts, Kapofi said.
     "With such an (AIDS) epidemic, we constantly air information
on the status of the illness," Kapofi said. "We teach people who
are well how to avoid contracting AIDS, and for people with the
illness we broadcast a message of hope about a loving God -- and,
when people die, we bury them and console our listeners. Right now
many victims are beginning to tell their stories to others, and
that is helping in the job of education we must do if lives are to
be saved."
     Kapofi said 98 percent of the nation listens to the national
broadcasts, which cover 95 percent of Namibia's terrain.
     What can North Americans do about the plight of the young
African nation?
     "First, we ask for prayers," Kapofi said, "prayers that our
people will practice abstinence from alcohol and practice safe
sex."  In the future, supplies such as food and diapers and the
labors of volunteers may be welcome, he said, but at this stage,
Namibia is struggling over how to channel and administer resources
that could come its way.
     "The process of educating and training people to deal with
this crisis is very demanding," he said.
---
     *Mark A. Staples is director of communication and public
information at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

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