Gala raises $1 million for AIDS
TORONTO, ON-Stephen Lewis, AIDS Envoy to the United Nations, commends faith-based groups for the care they're providing to AIDS orphans. At a World Vision gala, Lewis encouraged Canadians to engage in government advocacy to fight AIDS.
The federal government announced that it would produce low-cost anti-retroviral drugs for developing nations weeks before "Listen to the Drums," World Vision's gala November 18. The dinner was expected to generate $1.3 million for food, medical help and life-skills training for AIDS-affected families in Voi, Kenya.
"My hope is that when Paul Martin becomes prime minister, he will drive [policy on anti-retrovirals] through," says Lewis. "It means that the World Health Organization target of putting three million people into treatment by 2005 will be reached and that Canada will provide a continuous supply of low-cost drugs that is desperately needed."
Fulfillment of this announcement would augment Christian relief and development groups' work because wider availability of anti-retrovirals would enable adults to live healthier and longer with HIV.
Drugs needed
An estimated 40 million children will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010. Roughly 95 per cent of HIV-carriers live in developing countries. As of September, the UN reported that only one per cent of Africans have access to anti-retroviral drugs. Use of these drugs can help more adults remain healthy enough to care for children or others who are ill.
Princess Kasune Zulu of Kabwe, Zambia, a speaker at the event, lost her parents to AIDS before she turned 15. She was diagnosed with HIV in 1997. She says Canada's commitment to make anti-retroviral drugs more accessible would prove life-changing for many.
"I'm the mother of two girls, Joy and Faith, seven and nine years old," she says. "If I'm going to live 20 years more, won't Joy be 29 and won't Faith be 27, just like my age now? So what we are seeing is that the support from outside to Africa is appreciated and will go a long way to help us."
Carline Mramba, a World Vision worker in Voi, Kenya, says Christians in developing communities still have difficulty responding to the disease in their communities.
"The problem is that people feel like this is a disease for others," says Mramba. "Church leaders usually feel that way. We have been educating them and they have now come to accept that this is a problem for everybody. It should not be termed as a problem for sinners."
As a nurse and counselor, she helps AIDS-affected families physically, but also in coping with stigma. She was surprised that 480 attended the gala, which she says represents "a ray of hope" for Voi, where 33 per cent of the population is infected.
"I would encourage Christians to pray for us and not to keep quiet," says Mramba. "I believe that their prayers, the way that they give to us and even as they talk and lobby for us, a lot can happen."
Dave Toycen, World Vision's president, encourages Christians worldwide to respond to AIDS.
"There's a real challenge to churches in the West to be helpful to churches overseas because they have good intentions but in many cases many of those church members are living on less than a dollar a day," says Toycen.
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