| Caryl believes that the church’s
response to AIDS comes from being committed to discipleship in
Jesus Christ. “As disciples,” writes Caryl, “we
acknowledge that people get AIDS because of certain actions. We
seek to change behavior out of a desire to be Christlike, not
out of judgment or condemnation. We seek to improve the quality
of life for all people because we have been created equal in the
sight of God. We respond to people infected and affected by AIDS
with love and compassion, just as Christ has responded to each
of us.”
Caryl’s work with churches in Cameroon and Congo has included
holding focus groups to discuss the realities, causes, consequences
and strategies around HIV/AIDS; starting income generation projects
for women; helping churches organize an AIDS team to engage all
church members and departments; starting AIDS testing and mother-to-child
transmission prevention in the health centers of the church; facilitating
the writing of Bible studies. “Since I don’t have
the skills to do all these things,” Caryl writes, “I
have engaged churches in the United States to help in areas where
they have expertise.”
Caryl was appointed by the General Assembly Council and commissioned
to ministry in1997. Her first assignment was doing community health
work in two clinics near Mizan Teferi, Ethiopia. She lived in
a rural area among the Bensch people, working with the Southwest
Bethel Synod of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church, Mekane Yesus
(EECMY). After three years it was clear to Caryl that Ethiopian
health workers could be doing her work, and she felt called to
other ministries. She still misses and loves Ethiopia and prays
for the chance to return there one day when it is clear God is
calling her back.
Caryl’s professional experience was at Rush Presbyterian/St.
Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where she worked in
various capacities for many years. Caryl received her bachelor
of science degree in nursing from Duke University in Durham, North
Carolina, and a master’s degree in adult education from National-Louis
University in Wheaton, Illinois. She is an active member of First
Presbyterian Church in Evanston, Illinois, where she has served
as an elder, youth leader, mission committee member, and team
chair for lay ministry. She has taken short-term mission trips
with the church to Malawi, Haiti, Mexico, and Vietnam. Caryl was
a trustee for the Medical Benevolence Foundation in Houston, Texas,
for six years.
Birthday: August 13
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