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Making more Good Samaritans:
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| A training seminar in progress in Yaoundé on the Where Is the Good Samaritan Today? HIV/AIDS outreach package. A student is reading aloud from the Where Is the Good Samaritan Today? booklet. Photo: Dag Smemo/NoBS (CAM05DJ-62.JPG) |
The group consists of church pastors, their wives and some theology students. Most come from Cameroon, but a few people have come from Chad, Central African Republic and Nigeria. Some have been on other courses about HIV/AIDS, but, crucially, this is the first one any of them have encountered that draws the teaching on the subject from the Bible.
At the beginning the atmosphere seems a little tense. It is not often that pastors get together to talk about sex, AIDS, and the danger of infection – but that is symptomatic of the problem: taboos are one of the ways that prejudice is bred.
When they introduce themselves, several participants refer to having lost family or church members to HIV/AIDS. But there is laughter, too, and it helps everyone relax.
Then Beatrice introduces what lies ahead.
“The purpose of the course is to pass on attitudes,” she says. “Its framework is the story Jesus tells about the Good Samaritan. We need to get to know the thieves on the road in order to avoid danger ourselves. But we also need to learn how we can be a Good Samaritan to others, avoid condemning the sufferers, and instead suffer with them, be inclusive and compassionate.”
Her introduction over, she makes everyone repeat the main ideas to make sure they have sunk in. Then she moves on to introduce the teaching material (see panel) and the teaching method.
Dig deeper
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| A training seminar in progress in Yaoundé on the Where Is the Good Samaritan Today? HIV/AIDS outreach package. Some students are acting out the story of The Good Samaritan. Photo: Dag Smemo/NoBS (CAM05DJ-101.JPG) |
“We have the Bible as a basis, and we will be using it,” she tells the class. “We shall also be using other texts so that we can dig deeper into the Bible. We shall read stories from Scripture to see what it can tell us in a difficult situation. Together with the people infected, and those who are not infected, we are going to stop AIDS!
“Have you got that, you guys at the back?” “Yes!” comes their loud and cheery answer.
“I’m not going to be up here talking all the time,” she warns them. “We use a method in this training that means everyone has to participate. There are people in this group with a lot to contribute.”
“Is it possible for us to take any of this material home?” one student asks. He has attended another seminar about HIV/AIDS where nothing was offered by way of follow-up materials.
Beatrice is reassuring. “Yes, you can take it all. We hope you will train your own churches as well as your local communities. You can order the extra material you need from the Bible Society.”
Practical
The students nod approvingly. This training course evidently isn’t going to be ‘just another seminar for church leaders’, it is practical, with applications in their daily life and work.
“Now I want you to open your textbooks,” says Beatrice. A volunteer starts reading from the introduction while the other students follow in their own copies.
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| Konstanse Raen, author of much of the Where Is the Good Samaritan Today? HIV/AIDS outreach package, makes a point to a class at a training seminar on the package in Yaoundé. Photo: Dag Smemo/NoBS (CAM05DJ-54.JPG) |
Next, a woman is chosen to read the story of the Good Samaritan aloud. This is then repeated while a group acts out the story. The actors all show great enthusiasm – especially the three women playing the thieves.
“On our way through life we don’t always know what might happen to us,” says Beatrice. “If we did know more about it, we would probably act accordingly, but life is uncontrollable.”
One asks for permission to speak. “There are so many people who aren’t taking this seriously enough – ignoring the problem,” he says. “But this is something we all have to care about. We have to give courses like this one to reach the people. We have to get to talk to people, and not give in!”
Infected
A case history from the book is about a boy who becomes HIV-positive during a stay in the big city. The question concerns whether his family should help him or not.
This prompts Henri to stand up and tell a similar story – from real life: his brother left home to work and became infected. He lost his job and was soon without any money for food and accommodation. He was abandoned by the people around him.
“He lived far away from us,” says Henri, “but we couldn’t just leave him on his own, so we brought him home and gave him the help he needed. Whenever we see something like this, it is our duty to react. Whether it is someone in our family, our school or our church, we have to care for those concerned.”
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| A training seminar in progress in Yaoundé on the Where Is the Good Samaritan Today? HIV/AIDS outreach package. The students are acting out the story of The Good Samaritan. Photo: Dag Smemo/NoBS (CAM05DJ-74.JPG) |
Again, a group acts out the story with great sensitivity. The infected boy sits perplexed and worn out while his family animatedly discuss whether to help him or not. His ‘father’ acts especially well, showing great disappointment and anger towards his son for getting into such a mess, but displays little understanding or sympathy. In the end a relative takes the boy in, comforting and helping him.
Suddenly Konstanse Raen jumps to her feet, challenging the students. Their answers are too proper and pious, she says. She wants them to be more down-to-earth, more authentic in their responses.
“This calls for more than evangelisation,” she says sternly. “Are you putting yourselves in the situation of the sufferers? Are you willing to go the extra mile with them?”
Insect bite
The discussion moves on to how HIV/AIDS is transmitted.
Everyone knows about sexual contact, but would an insect bite be dangerous? Or blood on a barber’s knife? A nurse is present to provide accurate, authoritative information. It is crucial for the students to have the correct answers both to enable them to avoid infection and to enable them to pass this teaching on to others.
The course does not pull any punches.
This is the place to examine how people regard HIV/AIDS and, if necessary,
challenge it. The idea is that no difficult matters will be left untouched.
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| Henri Nadjii spoke at a Where Is the Good Samaritan Today? training seminar about discovering that his brother, who had left home to work in the city, was HIV-positive. “We brought him home and gave him the help he needed,” said Henri. “Whenever we see something like this, it is our duty to react… We have to care for those concerned.” Photo: Dag Smemo/NoBS (CAM05DJ-111.JPG) |
“Did God create HIV/AIDS?” Beatrice asks. “I want answers from you pastors and students.”
“It says in the Bible that everything God has created was good,” one student bravely volunteers. “So AIDS must be something made by Man as a consequence of the Fall.”
Beatrice asks them again. “So did everyone infected by AIDS commit a sin? And is the infection a punishment from God?” She isn’t allowing the theologians an easy way out, particularly on the problem of evil. The awkward questions keep coming, but to their credit the students get the idea and everyone wants to contribute.
Promising job
After three hours, it is time for a break and some food. Afterwards they watch a video made specifically for the course. Qui Est Responsable? L’Histoire de Suzanne tells the story of an African student offered a promising job at a hotel in another country, only to find she has been tricked into prostitution. Returning home, she discovers she is HIV-positive. Depicting many characters around Suzanne, the film works extremely well as discussion material for its own question Who is responsible? and the students respond actively.
By the end of the seminar they have worked very hard, grappling with difficult subjects: they have been actively challenged but – at the risk of being told they are wrong – they have also dared to bring forward their questions and to express their views. These pastors, theology students and their wives have got to grips with Bible-based teaching that offers a practical way forward from the fatal impasse that results when someone falls victim to the thief that is HIV/AIDS only for friends and family to pass by on the other side of the road.
(WR 395/10 - 08.05) [11 photos]
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Cameroon
stories and photos gathered by Dag Smemo (Norwegian Bible Societies).
Registered users of the UBS Intranet can view all the photos gathered
by Mr Smemo on his trip in the Image Gallery section.
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