wfn.org | Church executive sees ministries fighting AIDS in Africa

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 5, 2002      News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington     10-21-31-71B{392}

By United Methodist New Service

A United Methodist Church executive found disease-caused devastation in two
countries of southern Africa, but she also found hope in the work the church
is doing there.

Visiting Mozambique and Zimbabwe, Linda Bales of the denomination's Board of
Church and Society learned that up to one-fourth of the population of the
two countries has HIV/AIDS and both are among the six in southern Africa
that are facing widespread famine as a result of drought. The disasters are
compounding each other. Bales visited the countries before attending the
U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development in the Republic of South
Africa, Aug. 26-Sept. 4.

AIDS has taken its highest toll among people in the prime of life - the
parents and workers - often leaving a single parent or grandparent to care
for a generation of children, some of whom also have AIDS. Often the single
caretaker also is the family breadwinner in a situation where the crops have
failed and there are no jobs.

"I saw two countries struggling with poverty, corruption and unstable
economies as well as cultural norms that keep women subservient in many
aspects of life," Bales said.

During her brief visit, she gave particular attention to women and children

"In Zimbabwe, I met a woman named Maria who had AIDS." Bales recounted. "She
had two children, 15 and 18 years of age, who fortunately were not infected.
Her husband died in 1990, and, although Maria is certain she contracted the
disease from him, he never confessed the fact.  Maria is a bright,
articulate, talented woman who is now attending a support program for women
with AIDS and is eking out a living selling quilt patches."

Bales, who is in charge of the Louise and Hugh Moore Population Project at
the board, wants United Methodists to do more for people like Maria and
Judith, a 15- year-old girl dying of tuberculosis - a complication of
HIV/AIDS.  

"She contracted AIDS through her mother," Bales said.  "Judith wonders what
she did wrong to get AIDS, and her mom has yet to explain that it wasn't her
fault."

HIV/AIDS prevention is one of the classes taught three times a week in an
educational project supported by United Methodist Women. The project,
Economia Domestica, teaches basic skills such as nutrition, sewing and
cooking to high school-age girls during a six-month period. Located in
Libertad, Mozambique, outside Maputo, the school is in an area where
transportation is almost nonexistent, Bales noted, yet 15 young women have
successfully completed the course.

The need is great in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, but Bales takes hope in the
fact that both countries have a significant number of United Methodists in
growing and strong local congregations. The whole church must do more to
address the HIV/AIDS pandemic, she said.

She advocates "educating ourselves, advocating for prevention and treatment
programs, and working to eradicate poverty through systemic change and to
mobilize resources - financial and otherwise. Christ mandates us to do
nothing less."

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United Methodist News Service
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