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New HIV training materials for African Independent Churches

The Strategies for Hope Trust is pleased to announce the publication of two new training materials on HIV and AIDS, designed especially for use by African independent churches and community groups.

Both books are based on 12 years of experience by the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), based in Nairobi, Kenya. The author, Nicta Lubaale, is an ordained pastor who has been involved in faith-based and community responses to HIV and AIDS since 1991. Since January 2007 he has been General Secretary of the OAIC.

The new books are nos. 4 and 5 in the Called to Care toolkit, produced by the Strategies for Hope Trust. Book no. 4, 'Pastoral Action on HIV and AIDS', contains guidelines for training pastors and lay church leaders in addressing the pastoral challenges of the AIDS epidemic. These challenges affect churches in their teachings about sickness and healing, their forms of worship and their pastoral ministries.

Book no. 5, 'Community Action on HIV and AIDS', is designed to help church leaders in dealing with social, cultural and economic issues related to the AIDS epidemic at community level. It contains sections on topics such as the sexual abuse of children, domestic violence, widow inheritance and property grabbing by relatives - issues which have been exacerbated in many African countries by the AIDS epidemic.

Both books include case studies of the work of several African independent churches which, with the support of the OAIC, have responded in particularly innovative ways to the challenges of the AIDS epidemic. These stories are drawn from OAIC member churches in Kenya and Uganda, but they are relevant to churches throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and beyond.

Both books contain numerous role plays, discussion guidelines, Biblical references, individual case studies and illustrations by African artists.

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New book and film tell the story of TASO

United Against AIDS Strategies for Hope and TASO (The AIDS Support Organisation) have just launched a new book and film which tell the story of the first 20 years of this remarkable Ugandan organisation. The book is number 17 in the Strategies for Hope series, and the film is the sixth produced by Strategies for Hope.

Twenty years ago, a group of 16 people began meeting in Kampala to share their experiences of how AIDS was affecting their lives. No-one in the group had any training in how to deal with AIDS. Seven members of the group were themselves HIV-positive.

Peter Ssebbanja, the author of the 100-page book, was one of the original founding members of TASO

The group formed The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), the first organised, community-based response to the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Within two years, all seven HIV-positive co-founders of TASO had died. But TASO has since grown into one of the largest and most widely respected NGOs in Africa. It now provides over 80,000 HIV-positive people and their families with services such as counselling, medical treatment and social support.

All TASO services are provided free of charge, including antiretroviral therapy (ART), which has transformed the lives of thousands of TASO clients and their families. 18,000 TASO clients, most of whom are parents, currently receive ART.

In 1990, Strategies for Hope produced a book and a film entitled 'TASO: living positively with AIDS', about this ground-breaking organisation. Now, Strategies for Hope and TASO have produced a new book and film, both entitled 'United Against AIDS: the Story of TASO', to mark the 20th anniversary of TASO's establishment in November 2007.

Peter Ssebbanja, the author of the 100-page book, was one of the original founding members of TASO and still works for the organisation. Noerine Kaleeba, TASO's founder and first director, speaks at length on the 49-minute film about the 'family spirit' which has inspired TASO staff and volunteers to maintain high standards while expanding rapidly. In both the book and the film, TASO clients describe how the organisation has empowered them to 'live positively with HIV' - a term coined by TASO twenty years ago, which has since resonated throughout the world.

The new book and film also address the challenges which TASO faces. These include, for example, high levels of HIV prevalence in the North of Uganda, which has been plagued by warfare for two decades. Another major challenge is HIV prevention within marriages and other long-term relationships: 64% of TASO clients live in 'discordant' relationships, in which one partner is HIV-positive and the other HIV-negative.

Churches all over Mozambique using 'What can I do?'

In Mozambique, the Strategies for Hope video, 'What can I do?', is now distributed more widely than in any other country in the world. The Mozambique HIV/AIDS Christian Network has included 'What can I do?' - 'O Que Posso Fazer' in Portuguese - in its programme, 'Good Practices and Attitudinal Change'. The programme is supported financially by the National AIDS Council of Mozambique. Specially trained local church leaders have been using the video with their congregations and communities.

Mozambican Church leaders receive a video player and a copy of the tape, 'O Que Posso Fazer?

3,000 copies of the Portuguese version of the video and of the facilitator's guide have been distributed to churches in every province throughout the country. Moreover, 500 copies of the video and the guide have been produced in three local languages - Changana, Sena and Macua. By the start of 2007, a total of 4,500 copies of the video and the facilitator's guide were in circulation in Mozambique. To facilitate this process, the National AIDS Council has also provided 140 video players and television sets.

In the Diocese of Niassa, in the north of the country, Pastor Crispin from the local Anglican Church says that the video has changed the way people look at AIDS:

"We have been looking at HIV/AIDS as a result of sin and a punishment from God. After watching Rev Gideon on the video our attitude changed, and we began encouraging people in our churches to have the test to know their HIV status."

Pastor Luis Pinto Ndewe, leader of a Reformed Church congregation in Tete Province, Central Mozambique, says:

"We have shown the video in communities. One profound effect it had was that 45 men and 50 women went for a blood test to know their HIV status."

The manager of the Christian AIDS Network, Octavio Mabunda, is highly appreciative of the support provided by the National AIDS Council and of the openness of local churches:

"We thank God for the impact of 'What can I do?' within the churches and the community. We have witnessed a great transformation in their responses to the HIV epidemic. The churches are taking up their role as agents of transformation."

For more information about the work of the Mozambique HIV/AIDS Christian Network (Rede Cristão contra HIV/SIDA), please visit their website: www.rchs.org.mz

Swahili version of What can I do? launched in Dar es Salaam

Naweza Kufanya Nini? - the Swahili version of What can I do? - was launched in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 13 May 2006.

Mrs Wandoa Mwambu introduces Canon Gideon Byamugisha to the participants.

Over 100 people from local churches attended the event, which was organised by the Upendo AIDS Centre and the Tanzanian Network of Religious Leaders living with or Affected by HIV and AIDS (TANERELA+).

Visiting Tanzania specially for the launch of the film, Canon Gideon Byamugisha and his wife, Pamela, thanked the participants for their commitment to the fight against AIDS. Canon Gideon emphasized that AIDS-related stigma leads to shame, denial and discrimination, which in turn increase the spread of HIV and worsen the impact of AIDS. He called upon religious leaders to put an end to AIDS-related stigma. 'People should be free,' he said, 'to go for HIV testing and, if the result is positive, to reveal their sero-status without feelings of shame and fear'.

Participants place their candles of remembrance.

As part of the launch, all 127 participants lit candles as an act of remembrance of loved ones, colleagues and friends who have died of AIDS.

Mrs Wandoa Mwambu, Director of the Upendo AIDS Centre, thanked all the guests of honour and the participants for their attendance. She added that copies of the film (in VHS and DVD formats) and the facilitator's guide - in Swahili and English - are available from the Upendo AIDS Centre, which is located at Mwananyamala House, No. 336 Lupiro Street, near Vijana Social Hall, Dar es Salaam. Telephone +255 744 3892; email wandoam@yahoo.com.