The HIV/AIDS Project |
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INTRODUCTION
The Church of Scotland continues its essential work
of raising urgently needed funds for its HIV/AIDS Project.
Begun in 2002, the project has a mandate from the General
Assembly to the end of 2010. This recognises that HIV
and AIDS continue to be both a cause and consequence
not just of ill-health and death, but also of poverty
and lack of development around the world. With 10 people
infected with HIV and six dying of AIDS every minute,
every day, the need is obvious.
General Assembly’s clear position was stated in
the 2006 deliverance which “recognises that HIV
stigma and discrimination continue to act as barriers
to effective prevention and care within and furth of
Scotland; confesses to people living with HIV that the
Kirk has been involved in unwitting and unthinking stigmatisation
of them; and calls on all Christians in Scotland to
work to overcome ignorance and prejudice about people
living with HIV wherever they may be.”
Project aims
People living with HIV throughout the world do not look
for our sympathy but our solidarity and practical support.
The project aims to provide that support around the world
through its partnership with Church-related and other
faith-based organisations and so to bring hope.
The project's aims are to:
- break the silence on HIV/AIDS;
- stand together with partner churches;
- offer practical support;
- speak up for the voiceless;
- involve every member of the Church.
Help bring hope and life today
Christians at the Toronto International AIDS Conference
2006 unite to respond
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Donations to the project's appeal
will help raise awareness, provide home-based
and orphan care, start income-generating projects,
train peer educators, encourage voluntary counselling
and testing, introduce theological education around
HIV and build capacity in individuals and organisations.
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You can bring hope and life in just a few moments by
donating online now to
our HIV/AIDS Project. Click
here to donate. Every pound raised will help prevent
a new HIV infection and provide support for those living
with the virus.
For more information about the project's work and to
find out how you can get involved or to apply for grants
from the appeal, click on the links on the right hand
side.
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Message of support
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland for 2007-2008, the Rev Sheilagh Kesting, lended her
support and encouragement to the project. She
said:
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"I paid a visit to the Ecumenical
Centre in Geneva with a group of people holding leading
positions in various Scottish churches. In our programme
there were two sessions that involved HIV and AIDS. In
one we heard about the World Council of Church's
Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa, which co-ordinates
five sub-regional offices and enables the churches to
access information, training, networks and resources to
help deal with AIDS in their communities. It brings an
ecumenical dimension to the African churches' care,
education and counselling programmes.
The other session was about the Ecumenical Advocacy
Alliance (EAA) in which the Church of Scotland's
HIV/AIDS Project participates.
The millennium promise was that the tide would have
turned against HIV by 2015. That is not very far away
and there is still a long way to go - including eradicating
ignorance and stigma in our own country. Perhaps the
saddest sentence in this year's report was the
comment that a church member had asked a member of the
Project Group whether 'she had not been concerned
to have someone living with HIV stay in her home'.
HIV and AIDS is too big for a divided church -
indeed, for a divided world. Working in co-operation
with others and sharing resources is vital. I warmly
commend the HIV/AIDS Project to you for support as a
means of participating in the global, ecumenical movement,
supporting those with HIV and AIDS, helping to eradicate
the stigma that is still attached to this illness, and
putting pressure on our government to take action along
with other governments from the world's most powerful
nations."
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