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	International AIDS Ministries News
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	Spring 2008 Peacemaking goes to Africa Three PC(USA) program areas, International AIDS Ministry, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association partnered together for a two-week travel/study program to South Africa and Malawi. Participants learned from our church partners about the realities of HIV/AIDS in their context. The travel/study program was co-lead by Bob Schminkey, a member of the Presbyterian AIDS Network, and Janet Guyer, a mission co-worker serving as a regional AIDS consultant in Africa. The Peacemaking Program created a blog for you to follow this journey. Learn more about the work of our church partners in Africa.



	Fall 2007 Tumekutana "We have come together" A conference of African women empowering each other as Christian leaders Photo by Toya Hill. September 9–13, 2007 Nairobi, Kenya Tumekutana is a Swahili word meaning “We have come together.” In September 2007, women from PC(USA) partner churches across Africa came together to discuss fundamental questions concerning the challenges they face. They shared their stories together. They prayed and worshiped together. They encouraged one another and found ways to meet their common challenges as Christian women in Africa. Learn more about the Tumekutana conference.


	July 2007 Mozambique tries to curb human trafficking MAPUTO, Mozambique (Reuters) -- Mozambique is clamping down on human trafficking amid reports the southern African nation has become a key route for adults and children sold into forced labor and prostitution, a government spokesman said. [keep reading this story]


	June 2007 Kalanga Odette, who lives with HIV/AIDS, seeks guidance and counsel from Presbyterian-run women’s program in Congo. Photo by Toya Richards Hill Inequality, lack of education way of life for Congo’s women, yet hope prevails PC(USA)-supported partners offer training, encouragement Kalanga Odette was no more than 16 when she became a wife. The expectation for her, like most married women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was to bear lots of children. Odette, the mother of nine, complied. She also remained faithful to her husband, and even lived without him for two years when he left their home in Congo’s rural Kasai region to find work in the capital city of Kinshasa. So when the 42-year-old learned she had HIV/AIDS, she knew it couldn’t be true. In fact, she took the test three times just to be sure. [Read this Presbyterian News Services article] Complex Congo Empowering Congolese Presbyterians to be self-reliant is huge task, given tragic history, few resources DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – A thick, sticky heat enveloped the Presbyterians as they emerged after flying day and night to step foot on this rich, yet traumatized soil. [Read this Presbyterian News Services article]

	Mr. Banda with bicycle provided by Presbyterian Women. Bag on back contains ground maize. Photo by Janet Guyer. July 2006 More people receive services thanks to Presbyterian Women Thank Offering Bicycles purchased with funds from the Presbyterian Women Thank Offering are helping volunteers in Malawi bring care and counseling to persons living with HIV/AIDS. Home-based care volunteers in all three of Malawi's synods now share 100 new bicycles, making it possible for them to reach more homes at greater distances, and spend more time with clients. [Read more]


	The Chorale Presbytérienne du Congo performs at GA. Photo by Danny Bolin. June 2006 African feel at GA 217 The 217th General Assembly (GA) had an African feel, from the official General Assembly tote bags and Chorale Presbytérienne du Congo, to the home-based care “wrap” project. [Read more]


	June 2006 Louise Johnson, an observer from Princeton, N.J., sports the official General Assembly tote bag, made in the Congo from traditional Kasai Kuba cloth. Women in Kinshasa created more than 3,000 bags for Assembly participants. Photo by Joseph Williams. GA tote bags feature traditional art from the Congo Months before most Presbyterians began to take notice of the 217th General Assembly, a handful of young women in the Province of Kasai, Congo, were praying daily for this year’s meeting. Their prayers were not the same prayers of hope and concern that some American leaders had on their hearts, but rather prayers of thanksgiving. The small income that helped carry them through each day was coming from their work of making traditional Kasai Kuba cloth for the General Assembly tote bags. Recently, Doug Welch, PC(USA)’s area coordinator for Africa, received a letter of thanks from Monique Misenga, director of the department of women and families of the Presbyterian community of Kinshasa. "She said this project is making the women of the Congo known outside of the Congo," Welch said. "And she talked about how this has provided an income for the young women who have been working on these bags for the last several months." [Read more]


	June 2006 Religious leaders to hold politicians to account on AIDS response The United Nations is scheduled Friday to complete a three-day meeting on the global AIDS pandemic, and religious leaders say they are going to hold national leaders to account for what they say is continued slow progress in battling the crisis. “My hope is that this is not just more paper,” Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of South Africa told Ecumenical News International. “Words, words, words — they won’t help us fight the pandemic.” [Read more]


	April 2006 PC(USA) deploys HIV/AIDS consultant to Cameroon Shirley Hill of Kansas City, Mo., has been appointed by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to serve as an HIV/AIDS consultant in Cameroon. She will work with the HIV/AIDS ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon as it seeks to care for people affected by AIDS and provide prevention education. A registered nurse, Hill was recently ordained to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament by Heartland Presbytery at Gashland Presbyterian Church in Kansas City. [Read more]


	January 2006 Transformation for Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo In May 2006 the PC(USA) will partner with Global Health Action (GHA) to conduct a Transformation for Health (TFH) workshop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The workshop is designed to equip health professionals and community leaders to become trainers to "engage their whole community in the process of transforming their lives for the better." Central to this workshop will be the goal to empower women and youth to transform their lives and the lives of their communities as they relate to HIV/AIDS. A generous grant from the Presbyterian Women and funds from International Health Ministries are making this possible. [Read more]


	December 2005 WCC general secretary asks for greater efforts to make HIV/AIDS medicines available for Africa "I have learned to see everyone infected as a brother, a sister, a niece, a nephew — a close relative," said Samuel Kobia this afternoon in Bern. The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary was speaking at an ecumenical event for World AIDS Day held outside the Swiss parliament. Emphasizing that "Africa needs medicines. Now!” participants presented 27,000 petitions addressed to the Swiss government, pharmaceutical industry and churches, calling on them to make a greater effort to ensure access to anti-retroviral treatment to African populations. [Read more]


	UNAIDS/WHO launch 2006 AIDS epidemic update The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow, say the latest figures published in the UNAIDS/WHO 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update. Disturbing evidence shows some countries with previously stable or declining new HIV infection rates are seeing a resurgence. However, declines in infection rates and positive trends in young people's sexual behaviors observed in other countries. According to the latest figures: An estimated 39.5 million people are living with HIV There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 with 2.8 million (65%) of these occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Indications are that infection rates have risen by more than 50% since 2004 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. Download a fact sheet of the global HIV and AIDS facts and figures. Download the entire report. Adapted from the UNAIDS Press Release November 21, 2006. related news Sobering HIV/AIDS report presents challenge for religious groups Ten years ago, the World Council of Churches said the AIDS pandemic “exposes the complicity and complacency of churches, challenging them to be better involved, more active, and more faithful.” [Read more] Religious leaders question the will to fight AIDS after U.N. report Religious leaders and faith-based organizations are questioning the global political will to fight HIV and AIDS in the light of the new 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update issued by UNAIDS. [Read more]