Vol. 8, No. 2 Summer 2000

United Methodists Respond to a Nation with AIDS

I think you would be happy to know how resourceful our church is around the world. At this moment, a full quarter of the Zimbabwean population is HIV-positive, and your church is responding. 600,000 children have lost both parents to the disease, and many of those kids provided all the hospice care there was for Mom and Dad.

The GBGM, through its funds, staff, and the UMCOR Advance, provided expert trainers from Southern Africa, India, and the US for a conference-wide training initiative. Next in this process will be events in French- and Portuguese-speaking Africa.

The youth of the Zimbabwe UMC requested that GBGM and UMCOR provide training especially geared toward them and their peers. This August, 200 young people, representing the districts of the conference, will assemble for a week to prepare for a program of kids teaching kids about AIDS throughout Zimbabwe. The effort will cost only $75,000.

AIDS orphans have a great friend in the UMC of Zimbabwe. A young pastor has created an innovative system of adult guardians who visit each child-headed household (a total of 1 ,500 kids) in the parish, daily. They record all needs and deliver help the next day. The guardians travel on UNICEF bicycles. The adults of the parish cultivate the village fields in daylight, and then each evening they tend the "orphan fields" {land that has been set aside to raise food and funds for the "Orphan Trust"). The Trust pays the school fees for AIDS orphans. As little as $25 will provide a primary school education for a child for a year. School uniforms cost extra and secondary school education is more expensive.

Please support UMCOR Advance #982345-7, "Global HIV/AIDS Program Development," to benefit church strategies helping a nation with AIDS. Most of the help comes from the ingenuity of a vibrant church. We will add important means to its proven skill and leadership.

Checks may be placed in United Methodist church offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, N.Y. 10115. Call (800) 554-8583 to make a credit card donation.
Photo of Paul Dirdak

Paul Dirdak
Deputy General Secretary