Lutheran AIDS Network Hears Challenges, Conducts Business

ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has afflicted more than 34 million people with AIDS around the world. Members of the Lutheran AIDS Network (LANET) met here April 3-4 to elect its board of directors and to hear about challenges the syndrome has created in Africa and in the United States.
LANET promotes HIV/AIDS prevention, caregiving and advocacy in the Lutheran community. Its membership is open to anyone sharing that purpose and is made up chiefly from members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).
The Rev. Elijah Mwitanti, a Baptist minister from Zambia in southern Africa who is in the process to become a Lutheran pastor in the United States, opened the conference with a presentation on "AIDS in Africa: A Challenge to Our Ministry." Mwitanti is working with St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church, Hoboken, N.J.
Several challenges make it more difficult to respond to the AIDS epidemic in Africa than in the United States, said Mwitanti -- challenges such as lack of education, poor economy, negative cultural influences, apathy and lack of health care.
Information about AIDS first came primarily from the United States and was received as unbelievable -- a Hollywood plot that would soon be a movie -- blaming Africa as the source of the problem, said Mwitanti. "We felt insulted about the way it was being explained -- origins in Africa and from monkeys."
Those presenting AIDS education would come, talk and leave brochures, he said. There was usually no follow-up, and others would not discuss sexual matters.
Sex is discussed only between a wife and her husband, not even between parents and their children, Mwitanti said.
HIV is transmitted sexually or by sharing intravenous needles; it's a health issue, said Mwitanti. In Africa, the solution must be more than medical, he said.
"Every death in Africa has some kind of spiritual forces behind it," he said. "If I die of AIDS, it is not because of something I did," but a spiritual explanation is found.
Poor women can support themselves and their families by prostituting themselves, said Mwitanti. Women may lose cultural advantages if they refuse to give a man sex, he said.
Men feel as though women are objects that can be bought, he said, and they are willing to pay twice as much for sex without a condom -- without protection from sexually transmitted diseases.
A widow may be given as inheritance to her brother-in-law, said Mwitanti. If AIDS made her a widow and she has been infected with HIV, the practice spreads the virus to the brother-in-law and possibly to his wife, he said.
"As Christians we cannot ignore those in need," said Mwitanti, offering several responses to meet those challenges. He said religious leaders are "key players" in those responses.
"Pastors have respect inside and outside the church," he said. Traditional leaders -- chiefs -- and government officials will listen to pastors because they recognize the pastors' influence among the people, said Mwitanti.
Chiefs will also listen to the message that this disease is robbing them of their power, he said. "If you clean up the chiefs, you can almost guarantee that you will have clean villages as well."
Provide "culturally adaptable educational materials" and movies to raise awareness of the reality of AIDS, Mwitanti said. Pastors need the resources "to get from point 'A' to point 'B'" -- bicycles, motorcycles and cars -- to spread the word.
Teach "mutual respect between genders" and stop considering women as objects, said Mwitanti. Provide women with interest-free loans, so they can start businesses to support themselves and their families, he said.
In the United States, "a big political challenge is to keeppeople's = attention on this disease," said Kristine M. Gebbie, who had served as the first national AIDS policy coordinator for President Bill Clinton. She is now on the faculty of the School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, and has served four years as LANET president.
Gebbie presented "HIV Today: The Political Challenge and the Church's Role." She said people in the United States have a short attention span and tend to focus on today's headlines. She attributed "minor successes" in prolonging the lives of people with HIV and AIDS for removing it from the news.
The U.S. government seems to be giving over its "communal role" to faith-based organizations and the nation's private sector, said Gebbie. "We are having trouble believing that government can be an instrument for good."
Gebbie said people providing HIV services must be comfortable talking about sex and drugs without judgement. The government has difficulty with this, as do religious organizations.
"The best way to reach every neighborhood in the world is through places of worship," said Gebbie. "Christians must affirm the value of every individual" regardless of what that person does or thinks.
"We should start with being good stewards of our own bodies and learn what it takes to stay healthy," she said. That includes talking with young members about sexual identity and how to stay healthy, said Gebbie.
"People with HIV don't believe they have a safe space," she said. Gebbie urged the church to do all it can so that anything with "Lutheran" in its name is a safe space for people living with HIV.
Connie Statz, Pillager, Minn., told the conference her personal story of her community and her church ostracizing her and her family. She is a rural housewife, who was infected with HIV in the 1980s and diagnosed with AIDS in 1993.
"AIDS is a terrible word -- now attached to my name," said Statz. "This is a devastating disease that affects everyone," she said. "This disease makes you feel like you're nobody."
Statz said every congregation is either "infected or affected" by HIV. "In your community, there are a lot of broken souls," she said.
She recommended keeping a supply of HIV/AIDS brochures available in every church. If people remove the brochures to read them, that's a sign that more education is needed there, she said.
Statz said one aspect of AIDS is loneliness. She has tried unsuccessfully to find "another long-term survivor -- married -- rural," with whom she can talk.
Through prayer, Statz said, she has stayed close with God. "I'm not afraid of dying, because I've never felt that I'm alone."
"I'm afraid for my family, because they'll have to live with it longer," she said.
"The safe space you talked about is hard to find. It's not in church, where you think it might be," she said. Many times, family and friends don't even provide safe space, said Statz.
"If you want to minister in your community, reach out to those who are infected. Hug them. Let them know there is a safe space. You have to do this physically," she added.
The Rev. Bruce H. Davidson, director, Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry in New Jersey, Trenton, was elected LANET president. Other LANET officers are Rob Lane, executive director, Camp Allen, Bedford, N.H., vice president; the Rev. Janet B. Grill, St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, secretary; and Farriel Dobard, retired manager, Housing Authority of San Bernardino County, Calif., treasurer.
In addition to the officers and Gebbie, LANET elected four other directors to its board: the Rev. Joaquin Figueroa, director for Hispanic ministries, ELCA Pacifica Synod, Vista, Calif.; William Matzat, director, pastoral care, Southeast Missouri Hospital, Cape Girardeau, Mo.; Tom Salber, private duty nurse, Philadelphia; and the Rev. Chuck Weinrich, chaplain/educator, Village at Manor Park Long-Term Care Facility, Milwaukee.
All nine board members are members of the ELCA except Dobard, Matzat and Weinrich, who are members of the LCM