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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
African churches find it difficult to deal with AIDS
Somalia
BMZ suggests utilising new dynamism in Africa
Development assistance rising
“The trade in used capital goods must be regulated”
Austrian Development Agency starts working
Expert discussion: Speed up poverty reduction
40th GDI training course
3/2004
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[ Protestant Development Conference ]
African churches find it difficult
to deal with AIDS
Mutava Musyimi, Secretary-General of the National Council of Churches in Kenya, concedes shortcomings by the African churches in combating AIDS. He says they have not yet fully lived up to this challenge, although they have certainly felt the pressure to do so from sister organisations, for instance in Germany. According to Musyimi, money from the donor countries cannot solve the problem and Africans must find their own way to master a crisis, “which is our crisis alone”. That goes, Musyimi adds, for Kenya as much as for other African countries.
Musyimi remains vague about what should be done remains vague. That the churches must speak up against the stigmatisation of patients was his only concrete statement on an AIDS strategy when he appeared as a guest speaker at the Second Development Conference of the German Protestant Church and its aid agencies at Haus Villigst, in Germany’s Ruhr area, on January 28. Musyimi did not link the immunodeficiency with issues such as family planning or gender equality. With a friendly smile, he only remarked that in Germany, too, the relationship of man and woman probably did not always match the officially declared equal rights. He said that was revealed to him by the tension in the plenary session whenever the discussion touched upon gender subjects.
Many christian organisations find it difficult to deal with issues of sex and family life. That applies especially to African churches with their missionary tradition. But, discussing AIDS on the second day of the conference in Germany, a working group declared that the question was one of power in relationships as well as one of sexual ethics. The group suggested that appeals for reform should in future be made to grassroot Christian congregations in Africa and not only to the bishops.
In the view of aid agencies Bread for the World and the German Protestant Church Development Service, the example of Kenya proves that the churches provide a solid base for bringing civil society influence to bear. After all, the National Council of Churches had played a key role in ending the corrupt rule of former President Daniel arap Moi. The Protestant Church in Germany also places hopes in NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. Admittedly, this has so far remained an “elitist concept”. Nonetheless, it can be utilized for the development of just government structure by means of education and capacity-building.
Protestant development activists regard acting as moderators in the peaceful solution of armed conflicts or in disaster relief as other core tasks. The annual exchange of ideas by the churches and the aid agencies is to be continued at the next Development Conference in 2005. (dem)
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