I was going to write about my day today in Nottingham looking at how we can do integrated missions in YFC where we see young people kept in ‘church’ and not lost after 6 months.
I was also going to write my reflections on the character of the father in the Prodigal.
I thought I would mention World Aids Day too.
But I got angry on the way home in the car while listening to Five Live. Some, I don’t have a word, person phoned it to complain about the coverage 5Live were giving to AIDS. He actually said ‘I’m bored, it’s all you have been on about since 6 o’clock this morning’. This was said in the context of comments from others like: ‘I taught in South Africa 3 years ago. None of the people I taught are still alive, they all died due to AIDS’.
I was angry and speechless – but I was only giving lip service to the day myself so who am I to judge? There’s the older brother rearing his ugly head again!
I was strongly moved by stories coming from Umlazi in South Africa. I was in tears listening to stories from the Tree Clinic:.
Every Wednesday, hundreds of women who have been raped, or whose children have been raped, gather under this tree to seek counseling and care. It is called the Tree Clinic, and is part of Operation Bobbi Bear. The project focuses on identifying families, especially children, who have been sexually abused.
It then works to establish whether rape survivors have HIV/AIDS, and trains safety officers to deal with the forensic and judicial process. There have been many successful prosecutions as a result of the Tree Clinic’s work. Educating victims in the law and encouraging them to seek justice are the key aims of the project, but it supplies care in many other ways. Volunteers feed and clean children, and pray and sing for victims.
The images and thoughts I have had today make me cry and feel so helpless.
This year the World AIDS Trust is challenging us with the slogan ‘Do you have time?’ with the fact that 4 people die every minute from AIDS. I feel I want to do something, but what can I do? Amazingly this year the website makes suggestions based on your answer to a few easy questions: if you are challenged too, go visit them here
The Shiny Headed Prophet 