WCC NEWS: Central Africa: Breaking the silence on human sexuality and HIV

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World Council of Churches - Feature

CENTRAL AFRICA: BREAKING THE SILENCE ON HUMAN SEXUALITY AND HIV

For immediate release: 04 July 2011

Hendrew Lusey has never forgotten the words he first heard at a World
Council of Churches (WCC) workshop on human sexuality in 2002. At that
time, he had recently been appointed the regional coordinator for central
Africa with the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA).

He observed as representatives from North America, Europe, Australia and
Latin America submitted to the WCC thick reports on homosexuality.
Churches in Africa were silent on issues of heterosexuality and HIV.

“No report from Africa was seemingly available in that meeting,” Lusey
recalls. “Yet, Africa was and is still the epicentre of HIV.”

During the 3-day meeting, Lusey himself discussed homosexuality. “Yet, as
far as Africa-related health and development problems are concerned,
homosexuality was not deemed a priority in those days.”

A European friend of Lusey's kindly told him: “If you continue to think
that people from other continents will have to identify and resolve issues
that are negatively affecting your continent, you will have a long way to
go...”

Lusey still thinks of that advice as his “wake-up call” – and he is
acting accordingly.

Over the last decade, he has trained nearly 6,000 church leaders from 200
churches in central Africa and beyond. Still, he faces two major
challenges: a culture-wide unwillingness to talk about human sexuality,
and an ecumenism still in its infancy.

The challenge of communicating that most of those who contract HIV in
Africa are heterosexual is coupled with the reality that most churches
have difficulty discussing sex and sexuality. Some pastors still insist
sex should not be discussed in church settings, according to Lusey. So,
discussions about HIV, which inevitably involve discussions about
sexuality, are difficult to initiate.

“I remember visiting a prominent revival church in Kinshasa where the
church leader told me that 'his' church was open to discuss any issues
apart from HIV. For him, HIV was an infection for ungodly people.”


Progress country by country

Despite these challenges, Lusey has watched thousands of people in central
Africa find peace and welcoming attitudes among churches working with
EHAIA.

Lusey and EHAIA have helped people in central Africa examine what is often
an unequal power relation between women and men, reinforced by
fundamentalist religious movements that aggressively preach submission for
women while men are portrayed as decision-makers regarding sexuality.

“Women seeking information on sexuality and exercising their sexual
rights are considered as 'bad women,'” explained Lusey, adding that
there is a lack of a comprehensive sexuality education in religious
institutions and homes.

Yet, even with entrenched cultural views that challenge EHAIA's progress,
Lusey has observed a significant positive impact, country by country.

In the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, EHAIA has
accompanied a 25-year-old woman who was living with HIV. This young woman
is now leading an organization that comprises more than 1,500 people
living with HIV.

In Cameroon, many churches were already responding to HIV challenges. To
help them form a coalition, EHAIA founded the Christian HIV Initiative in
Cameroon (CHIC). This interfaith platform brought together mainline
churches that were working individually in the country to become a unified
force to raise church voices with government institutions and others.

In the Central African Republic, where ecumenism is virtually misunderstood
by most of evangelical church leaders, EHAIA has trained church leaders in
many capacities, including HIV prevention, masculinities, femininities and
proposal writing. The Bangui Evangelical School of Theology (BEST) was
initially reluctant to use EHAIA resource materials simply because of
their ecumenical perspectives. But now BEST is inviting EHAIA to train its
students and staff on the theology of HIV.

Lusey believes that, in many ways, the ultimate fruition of his work will
become evident as young people carry out the vision they adopt for a
church-based response to HIV.

“I found that all young people that I interviewed stated that churches
should continue to teach them on sex, sexuality and HIV prevention even
when many of them are not following church teachings in this context of
HIV,” he said. “This finding was an encouragement for me in regard to
the EHAIA work to figure out that my work among youth is still useful
although resources are limited. Health and well being are not only key
issues for young people themselves but also for the church and society at
large.”

[712 words]

This article is the second in a portrait series presenting the work that
EHAIA is doing through its regional coordinators and theological
consultants. The series is published ahead of EHAIA’s 10th anniversary
coming up in April 2012.



More information on EHAIA (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=71bd4fd56fdcefb1dd79 )


EHAIA regional coordinators and theological consultants (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fe46ea71f7e6d4948215 )

Read also: Building AIDS-competent churches in southern Africa, a portrait
of Dr Susan Parry (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fe486aacb81ff87aa750
)

EHAIA Impact Assessment, 2002–2009 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b1e5e5201372efbc8ef0 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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