 
 
    
|
American Pastors Return from Africa Convicted and Committed to Fighting AIDS
A group of 16 pastors and 10 lay leaders from churches across the United States traveled with World Vision to southern Africa in October to see first-hand the continent’s AIDS epidemic, and offer support and encouragement to local pastors and community leaders daily fighting the disease’s spread in their towns and villages.Following an orientation seminar with HIV/AIDS specialists Christo Greyling and Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha, the pastors traveled in small groups to Lesotho, Zambia, Swaziland and throughout South Africa – both to see the devastation AIDS is causing and to see many communities’ committed responses to the disease.
“The people we met – the local AIDS coordinator, who is HIV-positive herself, and the director of the community’s development program – were just outstanding,” said Matt Muraski, who visited the Sithobela community in Swaziland. “Even in the midst of the overwhelming problems they’re trying to address, you get a sense that no matter how bad things are, the right people are on the ground.”
In many southern African communities, one in three adults is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. World Vision is working in many of these communities, not only to educate others about the disease and care for the infected, but also to address problems like hunger, drought, poverty and war, which both contribute to the disease’s spread, and are exacerbated by AIDS.
 |