I am part of a group that has been trying to figure out how our church can get involved in the AIDS crisis, particularly regarding Africa.
Here are some startling statistics regarding Africa:
* Africa has 10% of the world’s population but bears 64% of the burden of AIDS
* 9 out of 10 children infected with AIDS live in Africa
* Over 24.5 million people are infected in sub-Saharan Africa
* Over 2 million people have already died from AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa
We have been reading The AIDS Crisis: What we Can Do by Deborah Dortzbach and Meredith Long. This book is well worth the read and tackles a number of the hard questions regarding this issue. Particularly biting was a quote from an African pastor who was asked if he thought that Africa had such serious problems regarding AIDS due to the lax attitude toward sexual sin. He replied, "Every culture has sins it is more accepting of. Fortunately for America, materialism doesn't give you AIDS."
Our groups first event will be a 5K Run/Walk to raise money for the Bongolo Evangelical Hospital's construction of an AIDS clinic in Gabon, Africa. This is a quick video.
Our website will soon be up: aid2aids.org
Please consider donating to this cause and/or sponsoring me in the race (both can be done via the website).
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1 comment:
Okay. Its a cause of a little more importance than a homecoming T-shirt, so I would get out of bed to run in the rain.
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