The AIDS Crisis: What We Can Do

Finalist, Fourth Annual Outreach Resource of the Year (2006)Over forty million people today are living with HIV/AIDS. In 2005, three million people died of AIDS, and half a million of them were children. The reality is dark.But in darkness, even one small flame of light makes a difference. And the church of Jesus Christ is bringing light into the darkness of the AIDS crisis all over the world.In Cambodia, the Way of Hope church is helping communities understand how AIDS is transmitted. And through their "Hope for Teens" program, small groups meet with a mentor to talk so that teenagers can make responsible choices about sexuality and education.In Rwanda, a church pairs up skilled workers in the congregation with children orphaned by AIDS to train and equip them.In Kigali, Rwanda, Pastor Augustin has taken in Tatu, whose extended family refused to take care of her when her parents died of AIDS. A Good Samaritan support group for men and women with AIDS also meets at their church.Like these churches, this book is a flame. Deborah Dortzbach and Meredith Long offer personal stories, up-to-date statistics and their years of international experience to give us the global portrait of AIDS: the roots of the problem and the role of the church. They teach us to listen. They allow us to observe. They help us become informed so that we can become involved, partnering with brothers and sisters already at work around the world loving, lobbying, caring, praying."The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (Jn 1:5). Here is a book to help us see how the light of Christ shining through his church can change the course of the current AIDS crisis.