A Compassionate Response to AIDS

By Janet Root
Never in Compassion's 50-year history have we encountered a disaster with such devastating consequences for the world's children as the HIV/AIDS pandemic. AIDS is not only incurable, but it also burdens its victims with the heavy baggage of social disgrace. In many corners of the world, casual contact with AIDS-affected families is avoided because of the fear of infection.

Many of the 14 million AIDS orphans are homeless or financially desperate. And nowhere is their plight so visible as in sub-Saharan Africa, where 12.6 million children have lost one or both parents to the disease.

Dejene is a case in point. This Compassion-sponsored boy is an AIDS orphan whose 31-year-old uncle, Kebede is guardian for him and his eight siblings. They live in a remote village in central Ethiopia. "Even more than losing my brother, who was like a father to me," Kebede says, "supporting his children is more painful. I'm depressed to see them sad," Kebede continues, "especially when I compare them to the neighbors' children who have clothes and I can't provide food. I used to buy the children clothes for the holidays and food. I can't do the same as their father."

On the bright side, Kebede has noticed a difference in Dejene since he started the Compassion program after his parents died. "Dejene's in school regularly. He used to get sick a lot before he was registered but now he's healthy. His sponsors send him many gifts … I think of them as Dejene's parents."

Helping those left behind
In response to the AIDS crisis, Compassion has implemented AIDS-awareness classes in all of its African programs. These classes help people see beyond the disease's stigma and offer Christ's compassion to its victims. HIV/AIDS prevention, emphasizing the biblical message of sexual purity and faithfulness in marriage, is also taught. This effort serves as a model for Compassion's programs worldwide.

"Our programs give priority to registering children who are orphaned, abandoned, exploited or living with single parents or extended family members," says Dr. Lilian Wambua, Compassion's former Africa HIV/AIDS consultant. "These children have the greatest likelihood of being HIV positive."

Networking opportunities are being sought with local agencies and churches committed to bringing tangible help to AIDS-affected youth. "Partnerships with local ministries provide Compassion an exciting opportunity," Wambua says. "In our work with local churches, we can apply strategies and methods of caring for our children who are affected by HIV/AIDS. And as we demonstrate positive results in our care delivery, other groups will be able to replicate our success in other AIDS-afflicted communities.

"The worldwide Church has a new mandate," Wambua emphasizes. "Do as Christ would do if He were living in this AIDS-ridden world - share His love with a world sick with sin and disease. My question to every believer is this: Will you take up this challenge?"

Many churches are responding. Compassion president Wess Stafford tells of a pastor at a project in Uganda where, each Sunday, the children who have been orphaned by AIDS that week are taken forward. "Who can take in a child?" the pastor asks. Many members have almost nothing they can call their own and yet they have taken in children. But each week, there are more children standing up front, needing someone to help them, to love them. Amazingly, although most people are already stretched far beyond their limits, not one child is ever left standing at the front of that church. And this scenario is not limited to just one church in Uganda either.

All of us can take to heart the words of Mulatu Belachew, Compassion's Africa Area Director, who says: "We serve a God of miracles. He has not abandoned His creation to be defeated by HIV/AIDS. We at Compassion will not give up, even in the face of this great enemy. We will move forward. That's the message of hope that we want our children to carry in their hearts."