ZINERELA+

Last week I attended a meeting of ZINERELA+ (Zimbabwe Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV & AIDS). The group is part of an African umbrella organization, but it was started in Zimbabwe by Pastor Maxwell Kapachawo. This pastor of a pentecostal church had been sick for many months, and so went to get an HIV test, and discovered that he was HIV+. He had to deal with being kicked out of his church (because he became a disgrace to them - think about that word...) and the initial silent treatment and hurt of his wife. He still hasn't told his mother because she has already lost 3 children to AIDS, and he worries that she would have a heart-attack if she found out about her youngest having contracted the virus.

As I sat in this meeting, I was full of admiration for the courage of these pastors. HIV/AIDS is associated with adultery and prostitution here, and so it is hard for pastors/religious leaders to come out and admit that they have the virus - even though they may have contracted it long before they became pastors. Pastor Maxwell said that the self-stigma is even more painful than the stigma that society and the church put on you.

As The Salvation Army, I feel we are doing a lot of good in helping people "out there" "in the community" who are suffering from HIV and AIDS. But we're having trouble accepting that it's in our church. There are officers who are HIV+, but they will never come out because of stigma. Or likely they will never get tested so that they can pretend that everything is ok. The churches are burying more people than baptizing. HIV and AIDS are in the church - we cannot ignore it. The environment/social treatment of people with HIV has a huge impact on their quality as well as length of life. I met a pastor who's been living positively for 15 years. She's never even taken ARVs - she just got tested early, has been supported a lot, and has excellent nutrition. So why judge when we can embrace? Why ignore when we can help?