by Belletech Deressa, Director for International Development and Disaster Response

[#1] For the healing of the world community, the ELCA uses Stand With Africa to:

• overcome the HIV/AIDS epidemic

• banish hunger; and

• transform conflict to peace.

There are signs of hope and there are roads to recovery and healing.

[#2] The suffering caused by HIV/AIDS, economic injustice, poverty, hunger, debt and wars impact all dimensions of our lives together as people of faith. When one part of the body of Christ suffers, all of the body suffers. In particular, HIV/AIDS challenges us. Stand with Africa: A Campaign of Hope provides some healing to communities desperately in need of healing.

[#3] Why Africa? Across Africa, and increasingly in other areas of the world, the nightmare of HIV/AIDS is real. [The numbers you see on the charts are people.]

[#4] The disease affects not only the physical but also the social body and millions of families within it. Africa and African women and children share greater burdens.

[#5] The disease affects the economy, reduces productivity and creates dependency and hunger. That is why we focus on Africa, recognizing that this disease also affects other regions.

[#6] Lutheran churches in Africa are breaking the silence and responding to God’s call to be healing communities in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Through Stand With Africa, the ELCA provides funds to Lutheran World Relief and to the companion churches. In 2001 and 2002, $1.3 million was given by members and congregations, plus an additional $350,000 allocated by the Church Council.

[#7] Listen to what it meant to Yochaim. "We know that our problems in Burundi cannot be solved without changes in perceptions and prejudices, and we start with young people, our best hope for the future". Yoachim uses a new LWF-Tanzania curriculum developed to teach peacemaking in refugee camp schools.

[#8] Hear Naomi’s voice. "God bless Mama Seena. If it was not for her I would have been out of this world and my name could have disappeared." A trained traditional birth attendant saved Naomi during a difficult delivery and protected her baby from infections due to contaminated instruments.

[#9] Uganda, one of the countries in Africa that has been hardest hit by HIV/AIDS cases, reduced adult prevalence rates from 30% in 1992 to 8.3%. But the socioeconomic consequences still remain a big challenge. So the Lutheran World Federation working in Uganda helps vulnerable groups, especially women and orphaned children, to achieve food self-sufficiency by improving livestock breeds, mitigating environmental degradation, and income generation.

[#10] Stand With Africa enables villages to move from poverty to sufficiency, overcomes exclusion and leads to better healthcare and education for children.

Companion churches in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa work with communities to break the cycle of poverty and bring smiles to young people.

[#11] Through community development, healing takes place. Stand with Africa – A Campaign of Hope enables us and our partners to walk with the people and to share the gift of hope.

[#12] Stand with children like this one! Smile!! God bless you.