WCC Feature: Responding to HIV with faith and courage

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World Council of Churches - Feature

RESPONDING TO HIV WITH FAITH AND COURAGE

For immediate release: 20 January 2012

Rev. Dr Nyambura Njoroge is always reminding herself of the daily lives
of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Their battle for dignity
and enormous resilience keeps inspiring her while she coordinates World
Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative for Africa
(EHAIA).

Njoroge is a Presbyterian minister, a leading theologian and ecumenist from
Kenya. She has been associated with EHAIA since 2002. This is a project
which has accompanied churches in Africa in dealing with HIV through
information, training, sharing of resources and networking.

Amidst the looming challenges of reduced income for HIV work, Njoroge finds
her strength from faith, saying that “God is faithful and God’s
granary never depleted”. Yet she admits the significance of the
challenge, which requires profound reflections.

For her, the inspiration comes through the “life giving stories” of the
people living with HIV, who she says, “manifest courage in the face of
enormous challenges, difficulties, stubborn stigma and judgemental
attitudes.”

For Njoroge powerful theological narratives play a crucial role, providing
ethical basis for churches to deal with HIV pandemic.

“It is the narratives in scriptures that ring in my ears with new
meaning. During Advent and Christmas season life giving stories of Mary,
the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth, her elderly cousin and mother of John,
are part of the mosaic of narratives. In particular, the Magnificat brings
a smile and joy in my dark days,” she says.

In her work at EHAIA, Njoroge has encountered many Marys, Elizabeths,
Zechariahs and Josephs, who she says have received “troubling and
confusing messages albeit of very different nature when HIV tests comes
back positive”.

Fighting the stigma, living with hope

For many HIV positive people, discovering the news of their disease comes
with shame, betrayal, silence, isolation, anger and suicidal thoughts.
Njoroge points out self-stigma, misinformation and judgemental attitudes
to be the major obstacles HIV positive people have to overcome to live
normally.

One of the significant approaches for Njoroge in dealing with the HIV
pandemic is grounded in the relationship between gender and theology. She
is a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians
and a member of the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with
or Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS.

Sharing from her experience, Njoroge shares various testimonies of children
and women living with HIV, who constantly battle against all kinds of
violence, especially against sexual and gender based violence.

“It is the lack of adequate, nutritious diet and access to the healthcare
centres, which keeps on complicating the lives of women and children. If
they do not give up, why should we?” asks Njoroge.

Transforming attitudes

Due to the struggles of activists, many HIV positive people have gathered
the courage to disclose their HIV positive status. It is because of the
strength of these people, shares Njoroge, that their journeys have become
part of the social movement against the pandemic.

According to Njoroge, these “life giving stories” also come from HIV
negative people, among whom are some “church leaders who once judged HIV
positive people to be sinners and deserving of God’s punishment, yet now
they have rejected the stigma.”

Njoroge shares about her correspondence with a priest from North Kivu,
Democratic Republic of Congo, which she says reveals people’s
vulnerabilities, scarcity of resources, endless struggles, resilience and
the power to say no to injustice.

The priest wrote to her, “We are carrying on with holistic ministry. You
can see some violated women and children that I took to hospital in my
car. There are many people like these with no access to hospitals. I am
praying to get some money to help them. I don’t have the money yet. But
thank God for those who were traumatized, are now well and went back
home.”

Njoroge feels that such examples of courage enable theologically motivated
activists to brew life affirming pastoral theologies, liturgies and
pedagogical tools that facilitate transformation and renewal of faith in
God.

“Journeys of people living with HIV and survivors of sexual violence have
helped Christians to recognize the critical role of concrete policies in
dealing with the HIV endemic,” says Njoroge.

According to Njoroge creating HIV and gender sensitive policies and code of
conduct regarding sexual abuse and exploitation is still in its infancy in
many churches. However, the fight against HIV is no longer perceived as a
preoccupation of the secular domain and human right activists.

Learning lessons and moving forward

One of the highlights in Njoroge’s ministry was to participate in the
creation of We Will Speak Out: Working together to end sexual violence
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0194945419d07e4bb98e ) in 2011. 
This is an
initiative by a group of international Christian organizations led by
Tearfund (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=feb7b54d0f50a0e9842d ) 
(a UK based
Christian development agency) to use the potential of the churches and
theological institutions to address sexual violence.

For Njoroge one of the major lessons she has learnt is the importance of
working collaboratively. She considers these initiatives ways of
“facilitating God’s justice and peace in the face of tyranny and
endemic violence”.

Njoroge shares about the impact of such initiatives, and how they can have
a positive impact with consistent advocacy efforts.

“In the process of creating this coalition, life giving stories have been
shared in Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Liberia. As a
result of which some church leaders made strong commitments to address
violence in homes, work places and schools, even in hospitals,” says
Njoroge.

For Njoroge financial means are important to continue working against the
HIV pandemic, yet at the same time, she says, “we must desire to grow in
faith, humility and wisdom, and learn to be inspired by the people living
on margins of the society.”

[929 words]

This article is the last 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=af0f99368d92112a8a1a )

Read also:

A toolmaker for HIV and AIDS awareness in Lusophone Africa
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d600eb7fdaf961b6a97f
)

West Africa: Mobilizing youth and women to reduce HIV (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=2baa017f4e6add4a197c
)

Building AIDS-competent churches in southern Africa (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=774af467ec54b244c72f
)

Central Africa: Breaking the silence on human sexuality and HIV
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=feb3f5bcb9b49c64bb07
)

Rethinking theology for HIV response (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=40ec5395f9c3068ce450
)

Accelerating the church's response to HIV (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4f4f2cb026fd3c8508b4
)


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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