|
|
 In the world war on HIV/AIDS, certain groups may be predisposed to lead, among them women and the church. This was the thrust of speeches delivered during World Vision’s September 12 to 14 Hope Tour in the New York City area.
“When the women suffer, the nation suffers,” Princess Kasune Zulu, an HIV-positive mother from Zambia, told an audience of more than 400 women at one of the weekend’s key events, a luncheon at the United Nations. “I want to leave a legacy—each one of us can leave a legacy.”
Kay Warren, a writer and co-founder of Saddleback Valley Community Church in California, told the listeners: “In our culture we’re supposed to talk about safe things—not about things that are disturbing, like child labor, poverty and AIDS. It’s uncomfortable. It’s disturbing. Yet this is the reality, and God is calling us to become seriously disturbed about it.” Warren encouraged women to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic through prayer, donations and volunteering work with women and children in need.
Launched in early 2003, the 15-city Hope Tour is a nationwide campaign to educate millions about the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Beginning March 31 in Chicago, World Vision leaders have been visiting major U.S. cities to promote a deeper understanding of the pandemic, as well as a more vigorous response.
|  |
|
