As the Rev. Buyelwa
Esther Maringa was about to become AIDS coordinator for the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church in South Africa (EPCSA), she
and the PC(USA) AIDS consultant for Southern Africa, Janet Guyer,
visited the Health and AIDS committees of four EPCSA presbyteries
in Limpopo Province.
The Rev. Maringa recalls, “Many congregations were already
involved in AIDS programs and interested to do more. In Malamulele
Presbytery, although the congregations had no programs of their
own, they volunteered with other community organizations. These
volunteers were very aware of community needs and organized
church members to bring food for those in need. In one congregation,
members dug up the church lawn to grow food to share. Church
members also looked out for orphaned young people. However,
there is still denial in parts of the community. Being HIV positive
is often associated with witchcraft.
“A lot of work still needs to be done in education about
HIV/AIDS to help the clergy to speak about it from their pulpits
and for congregations to become healing communities of faith.”
The HIV infection rate in South Africa is still high. “One
man commented that ‘AIDS is like a wild elephant rampaging
through the village,’” writes mission co-worker
Janet Guyer. “In visiting presbyteries such as Malamulele,
seeing small groups of Christians who came together to ask,
‘What can we do?’ shows that a spark of hope is
lit for positive change.” |
