JANUARY 2007: GREAT CANADIAN BIBLE STUDY
Download the study of Queen Esther, bring a group of women together to discuss its application for today, and collect toonies for Canadian Baptist Ministries Guardians of Hope project, which assists people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Martha Nthenge and Titus Kiilu, two Kenyan leaders of Guardians of Hope, CBM’s HIV/AIDS program, were in Toronto for the International AIDS Conference, August 13-18 2006. See also the story in the September/October 2006 Link & Visitor.
WHO IS MARTHA NTHENGE?
AND HOW IS SHE FIGHTING HIV/AIDS?
By Patty Card, CBM’s Guardians of Hope Coordinator in Africa
Martha, a woman in her mid-sixties, has led a very full life. She is first and foremost a servant of her Lord, desiring to glorify Him in everything she does. Her Christian roots started early, being raised in a strong Christian family. At age 12, feeling that her life must “count for God,” she made a personal commitment. She remembers a strong sense that she could do nothing that counts on her own.
While Martha was growing up, her younger sister was sickly and in need of much care. Martha wanted to help but often felt inadequate. This desire to help others led Martha to train as a teacher, but she still never felt quite satisfied with her job. When the opportunity came to study nursing in England, she knew that this was her calling. Deep in her heart she had always wanted to help the sick. After gaining her certification in Nursing, Midwifery and Hospital Administration in 1962, she returned to Kenya where she served in several hospitals over the years, nursing, counseling, training and administering programs.
In 1984, HIV/AIDS surfaced in the health community and Martha was concerned about its devastating impact on families, especially women, who are among the least empowered in Kenyan society. Throughout her nursing career Martha has been a fierce champion of their cause, working with women and families in her church and community, using her professional skills to counsel families and her educational skills to help train the church leadership as they approached the escalating AIDS situation. Her expertise and care has not gone unnoticed. She was called upon to help counsel women and children following the bombing of the US Embassy in 1998.
In retirement, Martha continues to work, counselling abused women through the Women’s Abuse Awareness program with Nairobi Women’s Hospital. Her goal has always been to provide a shelter for them as they work on healing and reconciliation. She says that in such life-altering matters she could only do this with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Presently she has limited her involvement at the hospital to one day a week mostly counseling victims of abuse before they appear in court because she wants to be more involved in her projects in the church and community.
Her ongoing projects include AIDS Awareness training sessions and reaching out to those who are brave enough or desperate enough to reveal that they are HIV positive and those affected by AIDS deaths (widows, widowers and orphans). As they see that some one really cares and is open with them, Martha is able to invite them to join together in small groups for community and support. Most of these were having trouble supporting themselves, being rejected by family and society once their status is known.
Breaking the stigma of AIDS continues to be a huge problem, but the care and support of local Guardians of Hope groups are having an impact. A typical group comes together, reads the Bible, and discusses their problems.Martha encourages them to share their skills and develop a small business round them.She has often obtained training and resources for them when needed.
Martha admits that many times she is tempted to become discouraged by the continuing risk behaviors she sees everyday in society. Slowly the infected are dying in spite of treatments.Today women and youth make up the majority of those being newly-infected.
Yet there is hope! Martha rejoices in the people who want to change their behavior and tell the news that HIV/AIDS can be stopped. She is especially proud of the Mobil Theater Group out of Mitaboni. These "out of school" youth have developed a set of one act plays on AIDS awareness and prevention that they perform wherever they are invited – churches, schools, market places. She smiles as she speaks of another group of 20 young people who, when they could not find work, banded together to find arable land on which to start a market garden business. With help from the church they were able to rent land and their business is now going strong.
Martha taakes action when she sees a need--like Nduku, an HIV-positive girl who leads one of the self-help groups. Because she is young, pretty and appears healthy, many men are after her and are not put off when she tells them the truth about her status. With no one to protect her, she often ends up “rescued’ as Martha puts it, by seeking sanctuary in Martha’s home.
Martha’s vision now is to help the poor to be able to make a sustainable living. Poverty is one of the major issues that’s feeding the spread of HIV/AIDS. Martha’s experience has been that when people are poor or have had long periods of deprivation they become filled with feelings of helplessness and despair. Because of this it takes a lot of support, encouragement and training in order for them to regain their ability to move forward on their own. They need someone to believe in them and walk with them as they gain courage to believe that they can manage on their own. When they are ready, Martha helps provide training in skills, and start-up materials if needed, that they can use to earn an income. She has a determination that God will use her efforts and her faith is contagious.
Martha, a widow, has two grown children. She is heavily involved in Guardians of Hope in Kenya and has initiated the training of HIV-infected youths, most of whom were living on the streets in Nairobi. One skill learned has been the making of batik wall hangings to earn an income. Groups and individuals who contribute a minimum of $500 to Guardians of Hope receive one of these crafted items as a thank-you. Funds raised support the HIV/AIDS prevention and care initiatives of CBM’s partner churches in Africa. Contact guardiansofhope@cbmin.org for more information and/or go to www.cbmin.org; click on Guardians of Hope.
THE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS ON AFRICA TODAY
More than 2.2 million people died of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa alone in 2004, the vast majority of them adults of child-bearing age. By the end of 2004, more than 25 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in the region, meaning the worst is yet to come in terms of AIDS-related mortality unless HIV/AIDS treatment becomes vastly more available. Despite increased efforts to prolong the lives of people living with AIDS through antiretroviral treatment, such treatment remains available to just 11 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa who need it.
The AIDS epidemic is increasingly affecting more women than men, with thirteen women infected for every ten men in sub-Saharan Africa in 2003. As the primary caregivers to children in many countries, it is also the women—grandmothers, aunts, sisters, neighbors—who shoulder the heaviest childcare burden, and whose burden will only increase as AIDS orphans generations of children.
Long before AIDS claims the lives of parents, however, HIV-related illnesses impair their ability to generate household income and support and protect their children. HIV/AIDS is also more likely than other diseases to kill both parents in a short time span. At the death of one or both parents, AIDS-affected children join the ranks of millions of orphans who must depend on other family members, foster parents, community-based organizations, and other guardians for their survival and basic needs. HIV/AIDS has contributed to a staggering increase in the number of the world’s orphans, a trend seen most dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2003, the number of orphans in the region stood at 43.4 million, close to one in eight children. Almost 30 percent of these, or 12.3 million children, were orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
(Human Rights Watch, Oct. 11/2005)
For more info, statistics and stories, go to www.cbmin.org; click on Guardians of Hope
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