July 17, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya/GENEVA – Representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) "Stand With Africa" campaign presented a North American response to HIV and AIDS during a recent international meeting of women on HIV and AIDS leadership in Nairobi, Kenya.

The campaign, a program of the ELCA Global Mission (GM) unit, seeks to support HIV and AIDS work, build peace and fight hunger both through direct congregational and community contacts in Africa, and through affiliated international organizations such as the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation (LWF), World Council of Churches and Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.

"Stand With Africa is about praising God and finding hope," said Dr Belletech Deressa, director for International Development and Disaster Response at the ELCA-GM unit. She made these remarks during the 7 July ECLA-GM workshop at the World Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) International Women's Summit (IWS) focusing on women's leadership on HIV and AIDS. The ELCA unit sponsored 25 women living with HIV to attend the IWS.

The "Stand With Africa" campaign embodies the ELCA's longstanding dedication to HIV and AIDS relief, according to Deressa, who is a member of the LWF Standing Committee for World Service. "Global Mission has been addressing HIV and AIDS since 1988," she added.

Dr Mamy Ranaivoson, a medical doctor based in Nairobi and serving as the ELCA-GM consultant for Health Ministries and the LWF's HIV and AIDS consultant for Africa, spoke about the church's essential role in the pandemic's response.

"[HIV and AIDS] response has to be a priority in the church," he said. "As a church, we must be bold in providing aid."

Assistance from the ELCA-GM is in the form of financial contributions, advocacy and grassroots' medical assistance, including provision of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for people living with HIV.

"My sister here," said Ranaivoson, referring to Ms Sellah Opiyo, a Kenyan IWS participant who had begun receiving previously inaccessible ARV treatments, "[now] is smiling."

Opiyo, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK), was widowed to AIDS. Now 12 years later, she serves as a trained counselor with the ELCK's faith-based HIV and AIDS program in Kisumu, western Kenya.

Ms Euni Motsa, coordinator for HIV and AIDS with the Lutheran Development Service in Swaziland, and a member of the Eastern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, said she has also been empowered by Lutheran AIDS response programs. Public with her positive HIV status since 2003, she is an "ambassador of hope" for the organization, Churches United in the Struggle against HIV/AIDS in Southern and Eastern Africa (CUAHA), of which Opiyo is also an active participant.

"We need to emphasize to people that being HIV positive does not mean the end of life," Motsa said. "God still loves us with our positive status."

Lutheran World Information
Ms Christine Hallenbeck, a volunteer and outreach coordinator with the Minnesota Council of Churches in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, wrote this article for LWI during her participation in the World YWCA summit, 1-8 July 2007 in Nairobi. She served on the World YWCA communication team on behalf of the LWF Office for Communication Services.