Action on HIV and AIDS: a Quaker Concern?
Approaching World AIDS Day on 1 December, John Whitley wonders what the challenge of AIDS means for Quakers in the UK and beyond
In August 2007 the Friends World Committee for Consultation Advocacy Group on HIV & AIDS, established at the Dublin Triennial, issued an appeal to Friends worldwide ‘to be more actively involved, with a message of hope, in the fight against HIV & AIDS’. Have any Quakers responded to this call to action – or even heard it?
A year earlier another request had appeared in the Friend, entitled ‘On being a Quaker in the age of AIDS’ by Glen Williams. As a Quaker working in the field inspired by the Quaker Testimonies, Glen showed how relevant three of them are to the global epidemic:
- The Testimony to Peace speaks to our world in which HIV is so often a factor, aggravating or aggravated, in conflict situations, from international down to family level;
- The Testimony to Equality challenges the glaring inequalities of the epidemic, with the greatest impact falling on the poorest, whose chances of prevention, care and effective treatment are reduced by the vicious web of poverty, poor nutrition and climate change; and
- The Testimony to Truth calls for compassionate openness in place of the stigma-related secrecy that, in so many communities, still feeds the fearful spiral of shame, denial, discrimination, inaction and misaction, perpetuating the fear of testing, with continuing high proportions of people living with HIV unaware of their status.
Glen accordingly expressed surprise that he had met so few examples of Quaker initiatives against HIV and AIDS and encouraged any Friends interested in discussing the matter to contact him. None did.
Was Glen’s call to action unnoticed? Are Friends unconcerned about HIV and AIDS? Is their concern shown without a Quaker label, more privately than collectively? Would Friends become ‘more actively involved’ if they knew what other Friends are already doing about HIV and AIDS?
With this hope, I shall mention the examples I know in Oxford, Rwanda and Uganda.
Strategies for Hope (SFH)
This Oxford-based initiative, founded and run since 1989 by Glen Williams and his wife Alison, is not a religious organisation, but has strong Quaker links, grounded in Glen’s commitment to the Quaker Testimonies, with support from members of Oxford Local Meeting.
SFH produces books, films and training manuals helping communities respond positively to HIV, gender and related issues. Over one million copies of these have been distributed, mostly free of charge, in 160 countries and in various languages, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.
SFH is funded mainly by grants, and works with numerous partner organisations, mainly African, in producing and disseminating its materials. Examples of such North-South partnerships include:
- assisting INACOS (Initiative des Amis combattant le SIDA), the unique Quaker initiative against HIV and AIDS in Rwanda; and
- support for and collaboration with canon Gideon Byamugisha, the HIV-positive Ugandan priest recently awarded the 2009 Niwano Peace Prize for his remarkable ministry (documented in the SFH film What can I do?).
SFH materials have been described as ‘a must-read for all involved in community-based AIDS initiatives’. Users welcome them as ‘life-saving’, ‘empowering’, ‘transforming not only individuals but the life of the whole community’ and ‘giving people the opportunity to speak about HIV and AIDS without fear or shame’. They also plead for more copies in more languages.
More details about SFH, its partner organizations, its materials and their impact can be found on the website, www.stratshope.org.
An invitation
To share ideas on responding to the FWCC appeal, I’d be glad to hear from any Friends already involved in, or interested in supporting, any AIDS-related projects.
John Whitley can be reached at pw1940@yahoo.co.uk.
