Nelson Mandela: The Epidemic of AIDS

AIDS has devastated not only families, but entire communities…and even countries. It is also considered one of the greatest threats to children today. There are 13 million AIDS orphans in the world. In South Africa, 70,000 babies are born with AIDS every year. Former South African President Nelson Mandela is deeply concerned about the impact of AIDS, not only in South Africa but around the world...


When Oprah sat down with Nelson Mandela to discuss this topic, he was passionate about combating the spread of this devastating disease... [yes, i am blogging something from Oprah! :-) ]

"One of the things that is destroying people with AIDS is the stigma which we attach to it. When a person realizes that they're suffering from a disease in which I'm shunned by my friends, by my parents, I'm a castaway. He or she loses the determination to fight. One thing we must avoid is to allow people to lose hope in the future. "

Question: Do you think we attach the same stigma to suicide & depression?? In the Asia-Pacific, we have countries with some of the highest suicide rates in the world.

To name a few: Australia, Japan, the pacific islands...So, why aren't we talking about it??

Kunming HomeAids Project

Alma recently returned from a trip to China. Here are her reflections:

Kunming is the capital city of Yunnan province, China. It has an estimated population of 3,740,000 including 1,055,000 in the urban area and is located at the northern edge of the large Lake Dian. Here The Salvation Army works in partnership with Yunan Red Cross in implementing a HomeAids Project. In June the Asia-Pacific Regional team was invited to do a participatory project evaluation of the project.

During the week we were able to meet with several people involved in the project. These individuals are full of stories to share about the changes in their lives, how they got involved and how they are now helping to make a difference in their own communities. About 1000 volunteers are actively engaged and are mobilized.

Story depiction of community volunteers participating in one of the community meetings

Here are few of the excerpts from the discussion with the volunteers:

“I am just only one month volunteer but I found new meaning in helping communities. I like to do the drama performances. These help me to share my personal experiences. My parents don’t believe that I can break away from drugs. Now, I haven’t been in drug detox but I am clean.”

“ I came from west side of Kunming. I happen to know HomeAids from my friends. HomeAids teaches community and I wanted to know more about HIV/AIDS. I stopped using drugs. I am now able to help former drug users. We come together, communicate with each other and share how to keep ourselves clean.”

There are so many testimonies telling of the changes people have experienced when they started to find meaning in their lives through the value people give them. People have the capacity to change and develop. From the community meetings we observed and heard that former drug users are now working with the district director and policeman. They used to say that they were discriminated against but they now find that people begin to understand them as people.

A picture of Hope and Acceptance. Former drug user happy participating and helping with community activities.

People undergo the process of change. Change happens as we continue to listen, to help support one another, and to learn from each other’s experiences. Each story that we heard validates that people need each other in order to change. Change is possible together.