When the International Inclusive Community of St Sebastians was established 3 years ago, the congregations and individuals embraced the campaign to support all those affected by HIV/AIDS. and communities have become more aware about how the church and wider communities are responding to this pandemic.



Building a world without AIDS is not just about teaching how to stop the transmission of
HIV. It is also about working together against poverty, stigma and human rights violations
that accompanies AIDS and contributes to the spread of HIV.

It is about providing access to health care, education and jobs for all.
It is about reaching out in love, so that all people can live life to the fullest, with hope for today and tomorrow.

When it comes to ministry in HIV/AIDS, like the disciples, we have been distracted by the question, “who sinned?”

After all, we know that HIV infection is most often the result of an action an individual has taken. Many of the high risk activities associated with HIV infection have been associated with sin and condemned by the church. People infected with HIV have been divided into “innocent victims” and “guilty sinners.”

The result has been that people living with HIV and AIDS have felt rejected and excluded from the church and from the love of God. And yet, is it possible that if Jesus were here today, standing in front of a person living with AIDS, his answer would be the same?

Perhaps he would again tell us that we are asking the wrong question; that we should not ask who sinned or who is to blame for this fatal disease. Perhaps Jesus would again remind us that we are all sinners and suggest instead that we ask how God’s works might be revealed through this disease.

When our approach to HIV/AIDS is governed by unconditional love, faith, hope and justice;
when we accept people for whom they are and love them unconditionally, without
judgment;
when we ask what we can do and how we can help, sincerely and honestly;
then people may see God at work.


The Work with those affected by HIV/AIDS extends beyond the cozy communities that we all live in, to those further afield, who don’t have access to resources, time and funding that we all take for granted.
One such area is Kenya in Africa, where a small but growing project is being developed under the auspices of a localized Project entitled the SONS Project {Save Our Needy Souls}

During a four-week training course, an experienced voluntary trainer becomes equipped to teach 40-hour courses to community AIDS educators who in turn educate people in villages and community groups and schools about HIV/AIDS. At the training sessions, presentations and dramas are used to teach trainers. Men, women, youth, elders, ministers, deacons,
teachers and students learn how to discuss human sexuality and demonstrate how to use a condom with confidence and ease. Poems, songs and dance are used to disseminate the simple message underlying the workshop:

Kenyans, AIDS is killing us. What are we going to do about it?

The teaching room is plastered with poignant HIV/AIDS messages, provocative quotes,
prayers, hymns and messages of hope. The sessions are instructive, participatory and
thorough in content. The facilitators challenge trainees to rethink their views, and
change their attitudes using parables, imagery and proverbs.
The trainees are eager to learn and to make a difference.

One trainee, Joyce, said, “The facilitators pushed us to talk about the pandemic.” Winnie,
another graduate said the workshop had left her fully equipped to train other trainers.
“Before the workshop, I knew a bit about HIV/AIDS, but after the workshop I was so excited
to teach that I went ahead to teach community AIDS educators as soon I returned to my
village,” Winnie said.

Joseph, a veteran trainer, commended the International Community of St Sebastians for their efforts and commitment.

“Talking about HIV/AIDS day and night was really impressive. I quickly realized that AIDS
is with us, and that it is my duty to let others know about it,” he said. “The Training program
challenged me to be concerned about my community. Our Trainers remind participants
that God made each and every one of them an instrument and catalyst for change. He encourages them to spread the good news that the AIDS pandemic can be stopped and reversed

Voluntary counselling and testing

Usually when villagers near Nairobi in Kenya need medical attention, they spend the
day walking to the hospital 25 km away. But through the assistance of the SONS the project has committed to bring health care to outlying communities with mobile clinics

The mobile clinic will open once a week to provide HIV/AIDS counselling and anonymous testing. The set up is basic: a small bare room furnished with a couple of chairs borrowed from a nearby school and a bench to hold the medical supplies. While the equipment is rudimentary, the standard of care is high to ensure that the testing is accurate and the counselling is effective. Counselors attend an intensive 5-week course to ensure they are trained to run the clinics.

The Counselor explains that before a test she learns about her client’s background and explains what HIV and AIDS are how the test works and what the results will mean. She uses this time to clear up any misconceptions about the disease. For many it is the first time they have received accurate information about HIV and AIDS. The counselling is followed by a simple blood test, which provides results within 20 minutes. If the result is negative, Janna talks more about prevention methods and advises the client to return in three months for a second test to ensure they are not within the period where they are infected and the virus is undetectable. If the test is positive, the counselor helps the client cope with the result and provides information about services available for HIV-positive people. Janna also shares vital information on nutrition and proper treatment for opportunistic infections. She can also identify people who might qualify for medical treatments such as life extending antiretroviral drugs. The whole process takes about an hour, depending on the amount of support the client needs. The Clinic also provides voluntary counselling and testing at their mobile prenatal clinics to help prevent mother-to child transmission of HIV. Mothers who test positive will receive antiretrovirals until the birth of their babies, and newborns will receive antiretrovirals immediately after birth. These are proven ways to reduce the spread of HIV.

Caring for people living with AIDS

One particular case study in Kenya is as follows:

Miriam is frail and weak, and yet her eyes light up as we approach her. She is dying, but she
greets us with dignity and warmth, despite the fact that we are strangers. At 47 her body is
giving out on her. She has been sick since 2000, and, while she has never been tested for AIDS, the symptoms — drastic weight loss, opportunistic infections — tell the tale.

Miriam is a widow with four children. Two of them are married and have started their
own families. The other two — a son and daughter — are caring for her at home. They have
dropped out of high school because they can’t afford the fees. Caring for their mother and
earning an income to support the family takes all of their time. Like any mother, Miriam
worries more about the future for her children than herself. Miriam says she thanks God for the “angels” that come to care for her. She doesn’t know what the situation would be like without the home-based care volunteers who help look after her and provide some respite for her children.
Once, when she was too weak to walk, they even carried her to the hospital.

Miriam is one of thousands of AIDS patients receiving care in their homes from
volunteers who have been trained and are supported by the donations to the SONS Project

Caring for orphan families

Grace Banda is sixteen years old. She lives in a house with mud walls and a ceiling of discarded pieces of cardboard and plastic located in one of the urban slums that surround the city of Nairobi. She is working hard to complete her studies in secondary school and
dealing with the things that accompany being 16 years old. She is also caring for her mother,
Rhoda, who is dying of AIDS, her younger sister Charity and her 17-year-old brother Felix.

The Bandas are one of the families supported by the SONS Project. SONS are supporting families who have lost their parents to AIDS or who are caring for a single sick adult. They are helping Grace with her secondary school fees and providing her family with maize so that she, her mother Rhoda, her brother Felix, and her sister Charity have enough to eat.

Rhoda, thin and frail, explains that her husband died two years ago. He was sick for sometime. She has constant diarrhea and no energy. She tested positive for HIV two
months ago. Rhoda worries about the future for her children. She is grateful that the SONS are helping Grace study, so that she will have more opportunities for her future. She is thankful for the volunteers who help care for her. She wishes that she had more energy so she could
provide for her children, instead of having them care for her


STIGMA

Stigma is often linked to other prejudices against the groups who are most infected and affected.
HIV/AIDS stigma tends to intensify in situations where there is little education about the disease and
people living with HIV/AIDS do not have access to adequate care and support. Some common
examples of HIV/AIDS related discrimination include rejection or exclusion from communities and
families (and even quarantining people in some countries); violence directed at individuals, their
families, or their property; and discrimination in employment, housing, school policies and services.
Discrimination often extends to loved ones, social groups and communities as well. People may blame
an HIV-positive person for their infection and think that simply being around an infected person can
cause harm — physically, morally and socially.

Stigmatization is not always imposed on people. The phenomenon of self-stigmatization — a
person’s conviction that he or she is an object of shame — may be equally devastating, even if that
person is living in a community that does not share that conviction.

People living with HIV and AIDS tend to experience increased poverty, particularly as they experience
more AIDS-related symptoms. In resource-poor settings, where health care systems are particularly
overburdened, many struggle at home to take care of themselves and their families. Sometimes they
are shunned by family members who are unsure of how to care for them. Daily chores like preparing
food, collecting water and firewood become overwhelming. They may have infections or diseases that
need to be treated. Depression is a common occurrence. Some turn to drugs and/or alcohol, increasing
the risk of spreading HIV

The SONS Project in Kenya have home-based care projects designed to meet the
physical, psychological, palliative and spiritual needs of people living with HIV and AIDS and their
families. Home-based care volunteers, often coming from very poor families themselves, use their
time and energy to help people living with AIDS with feeding, bathing, washing linens and other
tasks as they are needed. They teach homecare skills to family members so that they can effectively
care for the sick. The volunteers also discuss HIV/AIDS with community members to reduce stigma
associated with the disease.

While HIV/AIDS presents enormous challenges, it is encouraging to see that, with the help of
home-based care volunteers, stigma surrounding the disease is being reduced among community
members, families are being supported, and people are experiencing relief from their pain and
suffering.

More than 14 million children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. In Africa children are
considered an orphan when they have lost one parent because they are so disadvantaged. Because of
the nature of the disease, when they lose one parent, they often lose the other. Most orphans are
absorbed into the extended family, but are often treated as second-rate members — the last to access
food, school, health care or clothing. Many often end up serving other members. Grandparents, who
are supposed to be supported by their children, end up caring for grandchildren — often with
insufficient economic resources. In some orphan families, the eldest child will take responsibility for
the younger children — often dropping out of school to provide for the family. These children are
often vulnerable to exploitation and abuse


Sickness and depression
People living with HIV and AIDS tend to experience increased poverty, particularly as they experience
more AIDS-related symptoms. In resource-poor settings, where health care systems are particularly
overburdened, many struggle at home to take care of themselves and their families. Sometimes they
are shunned by family members who are unsure of how to care for them. Daily chores like preparing
food, collecting water and firewood become overwhelming. They may have infections or diseases that
need to be treated. Depression is a common occurrence. Some turn to drugs and/or alcohol, increasing
the risk of spreading HIV.
Home-based care
The SONS Project in Kenya have home-based care projects designed to meet the
physical, psychological, palliative and spiritual needs of people living with HIV and AIDS and their
families. Home-based care volunteers, often coming from very poor families themselves, use their
time and energy to help people living with AIDS with feeding, bathing, washing linens and other
tasks as they are needed. They teach homecare skills to family members so that they can effectively
care for the sick. The volunteers also discuss HIV/AIDS with community members to reduce stigma
associated with the disease.
While HIV/AIDS presents enormous challenges, it is encouraging to see that, with the help of
home-based care volunteers, stigma surrounding the disease is being reduced among community
members, families are being supported, and people are experiencing relief from their pain and
suffering.

Increased orphans

More than 14 million children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. In Africa children are
considered an orphan when they have lost one parent because they are so disadvantaged. Because of
the nature of the disease, when they lose one parent, they often lose the other. Most orphans are
absorbed into the extended family, but are often treated as second-rate members — the last to access
food, school, health care or clothing. Many often end up serving other members. Grandparents, who
are supposed to be supported by their children, end up caring for grandchildren — often with
insufficient economic resources. In some orphan families, the eldest child will take responsibility for
the younger children — often dropping out of school to provide for the family. These children are
often vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Orphan care programs
The SONS Project in Kenya have recognized the urgent need to help communities care for families looking
after large numbers of children, and families headed by children. They are providing emergency food
rations and improving housing for families where several children are at risk. The project also offer
orphaned youths training in literacy, business management and practical skills in carpentry, welding
and tailoring to help them become self-reliant. Small loans help orphans and guardians run businesses
to increase their capacity to improve the livelihood and security of their families.

Community-based childcare centres provide daycare for pre-school children. The main goal of the
centre is to promote the survival, good health, loving care, and physical, intellectual and spiritual
development of pre-school children. Any child can attend the program, and about 40% of the
children are orphans. The children attend pre-school and receive free health care. The children finger-paint,
sing, play games, learn to count and enjoy a hot meal once a day. The centres are managed by
volunteers and supervised day-to-day by a full time community worker.

Gender relations

Women are often hit hard by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Already discriminated against for being female,
women living with HIV are often stigmatized and blamed for bringing HIV into the family. Women
living with HIV may not seek care for fear that their children will be taken away from them. Their
lower status within families means they are the last to receive healthcare and food resources, and so
women living with HIV often progress to AIDS faster then men. In addition, in many countries,
women do not or cannot own land. This increases the likelihood that they will not have a way to
generate an income should their husband die.

Building leadership skills and
self-esteem in women

The International Community of St Sebastians is establishing women’s programs helping young
girls and women build their leadership skills and self-esteem in a country where women are often
viewed as second-class citizens. HIV/AIDS education is an important part of this work. The SONS project and the International Community of St Sebastians has been partnering with them to strengthen and expand this work.

Making poverty history

In addition to supporting home-based care programs that help families cope with increased poverty,
providing health care support and helping children stay in school, churches have been working at
combating poverty at macro levels. The International Inclusive Community of St Sebastians has joined other non-governmental agencies and civil society to call on other countries to tackle poverty by canceling debt, improving aid and increasing overseas development assistance.

Our partners in Kenya and Uganda are also working with communities to improve crop
production using locally available and sustainable inputs. Improving access to food is important to
helping people with HIV/AIDS stay healthy.

Increased Poverty

HIV/AIDS increases poverty at all levels. Poverty, in turn, makes people more vulnerable to AIDS. Here are
some of the sectors that are affected. Many are interconnected.


Decreased Income: HIV/AIDS decreases incomes at individual, family, community and national levels. Illness and death means fewer people to earn an income and more expenses, including caring for orphans. In some places female-headed households are homeless after the male partner dies. On a community and national level, losses of the most economically productive people make the labour pool smaller and less productive. Government and businesses face increased costs in ongoing training, insurance and absenteeism. As the small pool of highly educated and skilled workers in developing countries shrinks, the ability of countries to function is impacted.

Agriculture: As people become ill, there are fewer workers to spend time planting, weeding and harvesting.
Production subsequently falls. It is a vicious cycle as good nutrition is important to help people live longer,
but it becomes more and more difficult for families affected by AIDS to feed themselves adequately.

Access to education: Education, one of the most effective ways to reduce HIV infection rates, is negatively impacted by HIV/AIDS. Children, particularly girls, are pulled out of school to look after younger siblings and dying parents and in some places teachers are lost to HIV/AIDS faster than they can be replaced.

Access to healthcare: Access to even the most basic health care, already inadequate and stretched beyond their means, is challenged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Hospitals and clinics cannot keep up to the number of patients requiring treatment and care. Doctors and nurses are being lost to the pandemic.



The Work amongst those affected by HIV/AIDS isn’t just solely based in Kenya, but also in other Countries
.

St Sebastians in India

St Sebastians in India, where we have 300 fellowships, mainly made up of those affected by the Pandemic has taken on the difficult task of taking HIV/AIDS programs to communities along the national highway in Madhya Pradesh, Central India, where prostitution is ritually sanctioned and considered a way of life based on caste.

Fifty-four villages in an area near Jobat, where The International Community of St Sebastians has Missionary members of the Banchhara tribe. Here prostitution is an accepted way of life; integrated into religious lore and history. Banchhara girls are divided into two groups: those who marry, and those who become prostitutes. It is obligatory for mothers to dedicate at least one daughter to prostitution, early in childhood. Banchhara men — usually fathers and brothers of the girls — flag down trucks on the highway to bring in customers.


Condoms are essential

“There is no evidence that promoting condoms leads to increased promiscuity among young
people. In fact, a study from South Africa soon to be published in the journal AIDS underscores that
when enough young men use condoms consistently there is a protective effect for both the individual
and population at large. Condoms must always be promoted as part of an HIV prevention package
that includes sexual abstinence, delaying sexual debut, and reduced numbers of sexual partners.”


Pastor Janis of our fellowship in India explains that leaders in these villages don’t want to change their way of life. She believes that here the key to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS is
raising awareness about AIDS and the role condoms can play in prevention.
This effort begins with convincing village leaders and members that our missionary staff is genuinely concerned for the health and well-being of their daughters, sisters, cousins and aunts. Of course we hope that one day these communities will abandon prostitution altogether.


St Sebastians Missions Projects combats HIV/AIDS at many levels. Staff works with volunteers from the community to talk to people about the dangers of HIV and how they can protect themselves. Many of the Banchhara people are illiterate and have never heard of AIDS. Sessions have been held to discuss HIV/AIDS prevention and now condoms are freely available in many of the villages. People are encouraged to be tested and pre- and post- testing counselling is also offered. For people who test positive, Missionaries work to treat opportunistic infections, train families in home-based care, and provide palliative care when required.

With a view to the longer term, St Sebastians is providing Banchhara youth with
alternatives to prostitution. With much effort, one girl has chosen to leave prostitution. She
married a Banchhara man, but paid a price — banishment from her home village. She now
works with the mission in other villages. She is dedicated to educating Banchhara people
about the risks of HIV/AIDS, encouraging other girls to leave prostitution.

Combating tradition and history is a huge task. In some villages, community leaders are
very co-operative but in others women are not allowed to interact with the project team.
The International Inclusive Community of St Sebastians committed to ensuring, in an age of HIV/AIDS, that there is hope in Banchhara villages.





Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission Program

Malawi has one the highest HIV infection rates in Africa and the world. About 70% of all
admissions to Hospital are HIV-positive.

One of the first things the campaign did was to help support Hospital AIDS Program expand their prevention of mother-to-child transmission activities. Voluntary counselling and testing at the hospital’s mobile prenatal clinics in the villages surrounding the Hospital help identify mothers who are HIV-positive. Positive mothers then receive antiretrovirals until the birth of their babies, and newborns will receive antiretrovirals after birth. If mothers choose, they will also receive free formula. The hospital continues to work with both mother and child to help them live healthy lives.

Pastors participate in AIDS Prevention Program

The HIV/AIDS Control program of the International Inclusive Community of St Sebastians in Kenya and across Africa and India to equipping pastors and lay leaders to teach people how to prevent the transmission of HIV and how to care for those infected. Specific training is targeting theological students and ministers, particularly discussing the role of the condom in AIDS prevention and its proper usage.

Pastor AK, a middle-aged minister in rural Kenya, attended a one-week HIV/AIDS course
specifically for pastors. At the end of the course, he indicated that he had been interested in
HIV/AIDS but had been opposed to teaching about condoms. After attending the course, he
believed that condom promotion should be a component in HIV/AIDS prevention, along
with an emphasis on abstinence and faithfulness.

Pastor TY, an older pastor in an urban area, stated early in the course that he had a family
member who had died from AIDS. As the course progressed, he revealed that it was his son.
Near the end of the course, Pastor TY confided that his real concern was whether his infant
granddaughter was infected. The course taught him how and where he could find out if she
was HIV positive. A year later Pastor TY says that, prior to the course, he was hesitant to talk
about HIV/AIDS, but now he openly talks about the issue and feels equipped to give basic
correct information on HIV transmission and prevention to members of his congregation
and community.


Pastor Vinni, met Shruti when the HIV/AIDS team conducted an AIDS awareness program at Shruti’s high school. Shruti had many questions she wanted to ask, but she did not want to make it look obvious in school, so after the program she asked the school principal to arrange for a private place for us to talk.

Shruti slowly revealed her story. She explained that her uncle, her father’s younger brother,
had been abusing her since grade seven. She was afraid of her father so she could not share this problem with anyone, not even her mother, but now she was worried that she might have HIV.

One night she heard sounds coming from the kitchen. She saw her uncle having sex with
the maid. Though shocked and sickened, she did not realize the seriousness behind it until
she heard me talk about HIV/AIDS.

Shruti was taken for a blood test and the problem was shared with the principal who was
extremely cooperative. She tested positive. A second test three months later confirmed that
Shruti was HIV-positive.

The news was then given to her parents, who initially reacted aggressively, but gradually
they accepted the problem. The principal agreed to let Shruti continue her studies, but her
parents withdrew her from school. The maid’s husband was found to be dying of AIDS.
Shruti’s uncle and the maid went for testing and both tested positive. The maid’s husband died, followed by the maid and uncle. Shruti hung on to life, but gradually found it slipping away.

Pastor Vinni visited the family often even when they moved to another locale, leaving their
ancestral home to live in rented accommodation. It wasn’t easy, but they didn’t
want the neighbours to know anything about this problem. They planned to return
once everything was over.

Shruti was in and out of hospital. Then her parents became reluctant to take her
to the hospital, lest the neighbours would suspect. Their family doctor was then
taken into confidence that, like me, gradually became a part of their family. On July
27, 2004, Shruti died.

We found a beautiful person in Shruti. She never complained. We used to talk for
hours. Every Saturday I visited her. She would wait for me. I watched her year after
year growing weak and pale, until she was totally confined to bed. One day she said
to me, Uncle, I will go to God before you go and I will send blessings to you to be
living in this world with a long life to look after people like me.” Talking to her and
being with her has given me a lot of courage to face people with HIV/AIDS. I pray
to God for no one to face what Shruti faced.

Further details available from : ++Paul
revdpaul@hotmail.com

www.stsebastiansgc.ik.com

If anyone feels able to make a small donation towards this work please let me know