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Ethiopia welcomes Good Samaritan
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| Ato Yilma Getahun, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Ethiopia (left), holding the first pages of the HIV/AIDS booklet Where is the Good Samaritan Today? coming off the press at the printing company owned by Ato Asfaw Tefera, Board Chair of the Bible Society. The Society is printing 40,000 copies of this booklet in 2005. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: Norwegian BS/Dag Smemo (ETH05DJ-120.JPG) |
Story and photos by UBS photojournalist Dag Smemo
ETHIOPIA — When the Chairman of the Board of the Bible Society of Ethiopia saw the various elements of the HIV/AIDS outreach package developed by Konstanse Raen, HIV/AIDS Consultant, UBS Africa Area, he was so convinced that they should be made available in his own country that he was willing to begin producing them at the printing firm he owns even before funding to do so was in place.
“God leads me from day to day,” says Ato Asfaw Tefera. “I always pray before I start on anything.” Now, thanks to his prayerful determination to contribute to the battle against HIV/AIDS and to support from UBS, the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD) and the Norwegian Bible Society, the Society has been able to launch the Where is the Good Samaritan Today? program in Amharic, with translations into other Ethiopian languages due to follow.
Ignorance
As soon as the Bible Society identified a need to provide Ethiopians with Bible-based resources designed to tackle ignorance about HIV/AIDS and to change their behaviour to reduce infection, it also recognised the importance of linking its work with that of government agencies and other Christian organisations in this area. And its willingness to be engaged collaboratively in tackling what has become a major challenge for the country as a whole (it is estimated that 1.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS) has been warmly welcomed.
Fruitful
Indeed, His Excellency Girma Wolde Giorgis, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, himself attended the ceremony in May at which the Where is the Good Samaritan Today? materials, which include flipcharts, videos, Bible studies and booklets, were officially launched.
“The effort made by the Bible Society regarding tackling the epidemic is appreciated and worthy of admiration,” he said, “specifically the spiritual material you have prepared by collaborating with countries which have experience in this area. We hope that the activities you have started will be fruitful.”
“The Bible Society is standing alongside the government and the Churches to contribute to tackling the problem of HIV/AIDS,” emphasised General Secretary Ato Yilma Getahun to the guests and journalists present. “The Where is the Good Samaritan Today? package is already successfully operating in various other African Bible Societies and has registered encouraging results. It is teaching people in a concrete manner to change their behaviour. Furthermore, it is prompting clear discussions about HIV/AIDS.”
Practical
Ms Raen spoke briefly at the official launch about the various ways in which the package is being widely used by national Bible Societies in East and West Africa, but the practical details of using the Good Samaritan materials were mainly covered at a three-day workshop for Church leaders and representatives of Christian and government organisations which immediately followed the launch. After Addis Ababa, the same workshop was hold in another important town in the east, Dire Dawa. The HIV/AIDS co-ordinator from Uganda, Godfrey Ayena, was invited to participate in both workshops and to share the experience gained there. The Bible Society has now recruited two young HIV/AIDS co-ordinators, one man and one woman, who will be responsible for training and following up others in the use of the material.
Further information about the Good Samaritan package can be found in the special HIV/AIDS section in World Report 390. (WR 396/13 - 09/10.05) [3 photos]