wfn.org | Episcopalians: Africa AIDS envoy paints gloomy picture for House of Bishops

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

October 1, 2002

2002-224

Episcopalians: Africa AIDS envoy paints gloomy picture for 
House of Bishops

by James Solheim

(ENS) "The AIDS pandemic is still in its infancy," warned 
Stephen Lewis, special envoy for the secretary general of the 
United Nations in Africa, in a speech at the Cleveland meeting 
of the House of Bishops on October 1. "And it could spread 
rapidly to other places on the globe." 

Describing his first year in his position, the former 
Canadian ambassador to the UN admitted that it has been 
"emotionally difficult" to encounter the "specter of death that 
haunts the African continent."

"There are no words to convey the human devastation on the 
continent," he told the bishops, who explored the theme of 
reconciliation at their interim meeting September 26-October 1. 
Lewis described a recent visit to Namibia where one of the 
growth industries is making small coffins for the many children 
who are dying. "One of the chief weekend activities is going to 
funerals," he said, "but now they are also happening during the 
week." 

Initial estimates on the extent of the pandemic were not 
adequate, even in countries where the infection rate has already 
reached 30 or 35 percent of the population, he reported. "And 
now India, China and parts of central Asia face a similar 
future," he said. "It is also clear that this pandemic 
increasingly has a woman's face," he added, offering a numbing 
set of statistics to indicate the extent of the destruction of 
the future among younger and younger women.

A fight for survival

"Gender inequality is lethal, a death sentence, when you are 
dealing with AIDS in Africa," Lewis said. "African leaders are 
now openly talking about a fight for survival." He also warned 
that by 2010 there will be at least 25 million orphans wandering 
the landscape, many of them depending on grandmothers to keep 
them alive.

Food is a huge problem with no one to plant and tend crops. 
"We are moving from catastrophe to cataclysm because there is no 
one left to grow food. We are losing the agricultural 
workforce," Lewis said. The educational system is being 
devastated as children and teachers disappear, he noted. 

UN Secretary General Kofi Anan has proposed a global fund to 
fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and "the church has a 
significant role to play," Lewis argued. "In Africa the church 
is the only institution that reaches everyone on the 
continent--every single week."

Yet the response of the international community has been slow 
and insufficient, Lewis said. "We can't seem to generate passion 
around the AIDS issue. We are moving from inertia to paralysis."

Racism is a factor

In response to a question, Lewis said that racism is "a 
strong and powerful element" in the crisis, "there's just no 
other way to explain the response." He said that he is 
"sustained by rage, finding it impossible to understand why we 
allow millions to die needlessly because we can't find the 
resources to fight the pandemic." He added that he is 
"bewildered and completely baffled" by the failure of the 
women's movement and human rights movement around the world to 
respond.

"Yet I'm not without hope," he added. "We know how to fight 
the disease and, despite problems with the infrastructure, we 
have been able to provide health care in many areas." He pointed 
to the recent success in alleviating the crippling debt carried 
by most nations in the developing world as a model. When asked 
whether the divestment campaign in South Africa that was used to 
fight apartheid might also offer a model, he said, "Never 
underestimate the power of the church when it is unleashed." 

The bishops responded by adopting unanimously a Statement of 
Solidarity with the HIV/AIDS Initiative of the Council of 
Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA). "We renew the encouragement 
previously expressed by the House and by the General Convention 
that the parishes, dioceses and church-wide bodies do all in 
their power to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and to offer 
prayer and the compassionate ministry of Christ to all 
affected," the statement said.

The statement also expressed solidarity with CAPA's vision of 
"a generation without AIDS" and with its insistence that "debt 
cancellation in Africa is essential to addressing the pandemic 
on that continent."

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--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.