13
It therefore appears that the theology of Wesley and a derivative understanding of the FMC mission inherently encompass elements that are helpful for the church‘s engagement in the community, especially in times of health and social challenges. Among others, it is understood that the church has to minister to all humankind regardless of their gender, illness, culture and social status, since they all reflect God‘s image. The church is also expected to respond to all human needs, whether these are spiritual, social, emotional or physical. The church should not condemn or discriminate against people on the basis of their conformity to the church‘s structures or belief. In this respect this study draws attention to how the FMCSA has responded to HIV and AIDS and its gendered nature and how Wesleyan theology and practice can be used as valuable resources for the fulfilment of this Church‘s missional engagement.
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lives at affordable medical budgets (Marquardt, 1992:29). In his ministry, Wesley also fought against slavery (Guy, 1988:117), oppression and the exclusion of women from families and pastoral ministry (Wesley, n.d.:125-126), and ministered to prisoners (Marquardt, 1992:24). It is felt that Wesley‘s initiative in developing the healthcare response and his approach of integrating it into his holistic pastoral ministry constitutes a resource and an inspiration for the church in addressing HIV and AIDS, which affects not only the physical dimension of human life, but also its psychological, social and spiritual aspects (Wittenberg, 2007:152).
Considering gender, Wesley‘s healthcare response can also be seen as a means to develop a sense of equality and just relationships between men and women. In this regard, the care for the spiritual and physical wellbeing of the human being, the financial empowerment of the poor, regardless of gender, the stance against slavery and women‘s exclusion and oppression, as well as the challenge against weak health infrastructures through the introduction of new and efficient healthcare approaches can play a crucial role in reducing the dependence of one gender on the other and the male/female power imbalance. Hence, it is argued that the WHCR can be usefully referred to by churches in order to address HIV and AIDS and gender-based challenges10.
The existence of this resource leads one to enquire about the situation of HIV and AIDS and gender in the FMCSA‘s socio-ecclesial context. According to UNAIDS (2010b:28), South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV (hereafter PLWHA). In this country, the FMC has expanded in provinces and communities severely affected by HIV and AIDS. Gouws and Karim (2010:62-64) estimate that the high prevalence of the disease is to be found throughout eastern KwaZulu-Natal, especially Durban and Hlabisa; Johannesburg, Carletonville and Klerksdorp in Gauteng; Port Elisabeth and East London in the Eastern Cape. Likewise, Kleinschmidt et al. (2010:1165) have traced high prevalence in north-western KwaZulu-Natal, southern Mpumalanga and the eastern Free State. Moreover, the Human Science Research Council‘s (HSRC) national population-based survey of 2005 (Gouws and Karim, 2010:70) shows that HIV prevalence among persons (15-49 years old) in South Africa was higher among Africans than amongst the other race groups. It was 19.9% in the African communities, 3.2%
among coloured people, 1.0% among Indian people and 0.5% among white people (Gouws and Karim, 2010:70). According to Capp (2006:61), Msweli (2012), and Shembe (2012), Africans are the only communities on which the FMC missionaries have focussed their ministry and mission in South Africa.
10 See detailed illustration of the usefulness of WHCR in time of HIV and AIDS in Section 3.3.4.
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In South Africa, various gender-related settings likely to promote the spread of HIV and AIDS are also evident. Hawkinson (2009:2) refers to cultural role division where women are the most exposed to the care of PLWHA without preventive measures. Haddad (2003:152) and Dlamini (2005:61) raise the issue of men who, after paying the bride wealth, ilobolo, do not permit their wives to decide on their own sexuality. Men are also culturally allowed to have sexual relations whenever possible and to have numerous wives as part of their manhood (Hunter, 2008:567) and mostly do not protect themselves with condoms (Myer, 2010:193). In addition, South Africa records enormous numbers of rapes and domestic violence. In this regard, 64 514 cases of sexual offences were reported by the South African Police Service (hereafter SAPS) during the 2011/2012 financial year (SAPS, n.d.: slide 38). Likewise, Phiri (2002:22; 2000:105) has found that in Christian families in the KZN Province, her total sample reported violence in their households. On the other hand, the existence of HIV and AIDS in the family has been found to be a situation which promotes domestic violence (Mills et al., 2009:1-3). Given this situation, it is argued that the WHCR would be an important tool for the FMCSA in dealing with HIV and AIDS and gender challenges since it involves practices which can address most of these challenges.
However, the manner in which this Church is using this asset currently is questionable. Enquiries about the use of this asset emerged from my Master‘s research of 2009 in which the response of the FMCSA in Pietermaritzburg to domestic violence was assessed. The 2009 study confirmed that all the female participants, survivors of domestic violence assisted by this Church through
‗The Haven‘ project (shelter), were also exposed to a high risk of HIV infection (Iyakaremye, 2009:58-63). The symbiotic connection between both realities was not examined because that was not the objective of the study. However, an attempt was made through a journal article (Iyakaremye, 2010) to address this issue. This highlighted that these women were more at risk because they were three times more vulnerable to exposure to HIV infection. Firstly, they were exposed during the abusive period when they could not negotiate safe sexual relations because of dysfunctional masculinities. Secondly, they faced further risk when fleeing from their abusers because there was no safe accommodation available and therefore they were open to further abuse and health risks. Finally, even in the place of safety where these women should feel protected, they were exposed when they left the shelter. The rules of the shelter states that after an accommodation period of six weeks, the victims must leave (:99-101). Then the cycle would start all over again.
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Hence, although this Church was trying to address the problem of domestic violence, which is a gender issue, the manner in which it addressed HIV and AIDS was not clear. [Comment by researcher: During my third year (2010) as member of the FMCSA, I had no knowledge about any programme aiming to respond to this pandemic in this Church. No sermon that I heard referred to this problem. I also had the privilege to participate in the FMSKZN Annual Conferences where all the church leaders and lay representatives of the ten circuits of the FMSKZN reported on their annual activities. None of their reports mentioned any activity related to HIV and AIDS].
A systematic literature review11 (Olivier, 2012; Armstrong et al. 2011; Arksey et al. 2005; Wilson et al. 2010) revealed numerous documents on the response of churches and other Faith-Based Organisations to HIV and AIDS in South Africa. For example, Govere (2005) used the Asset- Based Community Development approach to reclaim ubuntu values in the Southern African churches‘ methods of addressing HIV and AIDS. Mbogo (2004) conducted a study in the
‗Springs of Hope‘ support group to examine the church‘s gender sensitivity in addressing HIV and AIDS in Pietermaritzburg. Manda (2006) analysed the role of the HIV and AIDS programme of the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa (ESSA) in addressing the pandemic.
Guzana (2008) examined the Young Men‘s Guild as a space for HIV prevention in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Joushua (2010) wrote on the response of the Catholic Church in KZN from a historical perspective. However, no literature or documents on the FMCSA‘s response to HIV and AIDS were found. Apart from books on the Free Methodist Mission in South Africa, written before the advent of HIV and AIDS, other documents include the researcher‘s journal article by Iyakaremye (2010); two book chapters by D. Sheffield and K.
Sheffield (1998) and L. P. Capp (2006); one PhD thesis by H. Le Roux (2001); three Master dissertations by E. Ntakirutimana (2004), V. Ntakirutimana (2009), and I. Iyakaremye (2009); as well as two Honours dissertations by E. Ntakirutimana (2003) and V. Musabyimana (2004).
These documents focus mainly on one circuit of the FMCSA, namely the Ubunye Free Methodist Church (hereafter, UFMC) of Pietermaritzburg. They largely target two projects, Ubunye Cooperative Housing (hereafter UCH) and The Haven shelter for women and children who are survivors of domestic violence12. These writings generally discourse on the importance, the structure, the success or the failure of these projects without mentioning how the issue of HIV and AIDS is approached. There was therefore no evidence that the valuable resource, WHCR, was used by the FMCSA in order to deal with HIV and AIDS. Similarly, there was no
11 See more about the way the systematic literature review has been used in Section 4.4.1.
12 Some details on the content of these documents are provided in the Section 2.5.
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evidence that the potential of this resource for addressing the pandemic and its gendered nature were known in the FMCSA.
Not knowing how the FMCSA responds to HIV and AIDS may have negative consequences. It may result in an absence of reference to appreciate this Church‘s contribution in addressing the pandemic. It may also handicap the reflection on strategies to engage this Church in responding or to improve efforts it may have already made. Likewise, not knowing how the WHCR has been or can be valued during the current critical time of HIV and AIDS and GBV in South Africa may result in not benefiting from the possibilities that it offers for managing these challenges.
This may also prevent or slow down the involvement of the FMCSA in addressing the issues Nevertheless, expounding on the usefulness of the WHCR in responding to HIV and AIDS and gender issues may enlighten the rationale and enrich strategies of addressing these challenges.
Once known and used, this may also contribute to the increase in the number of effective participants in addressing them. This study therefore assesses the response of the FMCSA to HIV and AIDS and its gendered nature and reflects on how the WHCR can inform this Church‘s missional engagement in confronting HIV and AIDS and gender challenges.