In October 2005, Charles Krueger, of the American Bible Society, visited the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here he outlines the scale of its HIV/AIDS problem and describes the Bible Society’s work in the field

Society’s HIV/AIDS project with partners welcomed all round

 

HIV/AIDS work in DR Congo

The four articles which follow portray different aspects of the HIV/AIDS project being undertaken by the Bible Society of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Konstanse Raen’s account describes the start of the work in DRC two years ago and praises the Bible Society for the exemplary way it began its project before major funding was in place. Charles Krueger reports on a visit he paid to DRC last year, describing the project’s developments and the reception that they were getting, and listing the Society’s partner agencies. Francois Sieberhagen has been able to provide a first- hand account of a key meeting a Bible Society delegation had with the country’s Minister of Health and an interview with Nancy Kasela, an HIV-positive volunteer with an agency that uses the Good Samaritan outreach package developed by Konstanse Raen. We are also including a short extra article outlining the other social problems affecting the country.

CONGO, Democratic Republic — Across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a whole, HIV/AIDS is reckoned to have infected between five and ten per cent of the adult population. If the ‘best estimates’ are accurate, more than a million people are living with the condition.

Knowing the infection rates the country was struggling with, I expressed an interest in the work of the Bible Society in DRC to UBS Program Consultant the Rev Evariste Munyabarame. As a result, I was invited to visit the Society and meet some of the partners supporting its HIV/AIDS work.

Seminar

The HIV/AIDS project which the Society undertakes in partnership with various churches was officially launched with a seminar facilitated by Konstanse Raen, the UBS HIV/AIDS Consultant, in September 2004 (see separate article). The first financial aid for the Bible Society’s HIV/AIDS project came from the Norwegian Bible Society. Later, it received funding from Opportunity 21 Final Phase and the Bible Society in New Zealand. As well as allowing the Society to produce more resources for the churches, the funding also meant that Brigitte Katshiete, who had attended the first AIDS seminar as a representative of her church, could be employed as Program Manager and Partner Coordinator for the project’s AIDS desk.

Counselling

Travelling with Brigitte and with Bienvenu Masingende, the Bible Society’s Manager of Partnerships, Church Relations and Fundraising, I visited several of the partners the Society is working with in Kinshasa. They included ACS/AMO Congo, an AIDS testing and family counselling centre, and Eglise du Christ au Congo/Communauté Baptiste du Fleuve Congo, a pastoral training centre providing AIDS training for clergy and lay leaders. The National Program Coordinator of the Fight Against AIDS and the President of Congo’s Association of People Living with AIDS were among the leaders I met.

Each group welcomed seeing the American Bible Society and UBS both expressing a commitment to the Bible Society’s work in support of their own efforts. They were also pleased to receive a copy of the recent UBS catalogue of AIDS-related Portions, audio tapes, videos, flip charts and other resources that the Bible Society has – or will have – available. All the groups were familiar with the video Where is the Good Samaritan Today? and said that it was giving valuable support to their missions.

Bishop Pierre Marini Bodho is leader of a council which collectively represents more than eight million Protestant believers. He told me he was very committed to getting the Church more proactively involved in addressing DRC’s AIDS pandemic.

“The Bible Society is a critical partner in this effort,” he said. (This story refers to project 89417.) (WR 401/12 - 04/05.06) [2 photos]