THE EARLY YEARS (1985-1994)
3.4. The United Methodist Church’s Response to HIV and AIDS
3.4.1. The Global Council of Bishops Engages with HIV and AIDS
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of the church to the world.729 This implies that Bishop Muzorewa was part of this council for the twenty-four years of his episcopacy in Zimbabwe. The fact that the statements came from the church‘s global Council of Bishops meant that they expressed the collective voice of all the church‘s top leadership throughout the world including Bishop Muzorewa.
On 20 April 1988 the church‘s global Council of Bishops at a conference in the US issued a statement on the church‘s position on the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The statement was not necessarily binding on the local conferences but it indicates the bishops‘ commitment at responding to the epidemic. For example, the Council of Bishops dispelled the myth that AIDS was part of God‘s plan to instigate retributive justice and thus categorically stated: ―We do not believe that the God of love, revealed in Jesus Christ, waged germ warfare on the human family, including the unborn and the newly born babies.‖730 The Council of Bishops took the position that Christian morality, based on abstinence and faithfulness, was the most ideal weapon for HIV prevention as they asserted: ―Monogamous, sexual fidelity within the bond of holy matrimony is the standard behaviour expected of United Methodists and recommended to all others as behaviour that comes close to assuring the prevention of the spread of AIDS.‖731 Comparatively, the ZCBC was one of the few ecclesiastical bodies that issued a similar message in October 1987.
However, unlike the ZCBC, and as early as 1988, the Council of Bishops went a step further by accepting the reality of human folly and argued that unprotected sex had the potential effect of increasing the rate of HIV infection.732 Based on recommendations from medical experts, the Council of Bishops confidently suggested that the only alternative and viable option for people who failed to abstain or remain faithful was to use condoms.733 In Zimbabwe, the leadership of the United Methodist Church discussed the use of condoms among married couples three years later in 1990. The local ecclesiastical and cultural landscape that tended to despise the use of
729 Council of Bishops, ―Meetings,‖ <http://www.gc2004.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=5856/>
[Accessed 7 November 2011].
730 Council of Bishops, ―A statement on acquired immune deficiency syndrome,‖ 20 April 1988,
<http://gbgm-umc.org/health/aids/bishops88.stm/> [Accessed 1 July 2011].
731 Council of Bishops, ―A statement on acquired immune deficiency syndrome.‖
732 Council of Bishops, ―A statement on acquired immune deficiency syndrome.‖
733 Council of Bishops, ―A statement on acquired immune deficiency syndrome.‖
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condoms in the prevention of sexually transmitted HIV could have led the church‘s national leadership to water down the recommendations of the Council of Bishops as noted in the resolutions for 1990 and 1991. The statement by the Council of Bishops‘
in 1988 was nevertheless quite liberal and accommodating and therefore responded to people‘s circumstances from a pragmatic position.
In another related development, in 1988 the church‘s global General Conference drew up a resolution entitled ―AIDS and the healing ministry of the church.‖734 This time the emphasis was on rededicating the church denomination to a ministry of wholeness through compassion and healing, as a means of meeting the needs of humanity. Part of the resolution stated that the United Methodist Church would open up the church‘s structures for the caring of persons living with HIV, collaborate with communities on priorities for action, lead in education and awareness, provide emotional and physical support to caregivers and use other local church resources to respond to the pandemic.735 Although the resolution showed the urgency with which the church‘s global body treated AIDS, at the local level in Zimbabwe, the interpretation became different. Zimbabwe was still in a state of AIDS denial and the church‘s leadership seemed unenthusiastic about launching holistic HIV and AIDS interventions.
Furthermore, five years later, the General Board of Global Ministries submitted a resolution that was approved by the General Conference in 1992.736 The resolution was a follow up to that of 1988. It further re-emphasised the functions of the local congregations, the general programme agencies, the Episcopal leadership and the church‘s annual conferences in responding constructively to HIV and AIDS. For example, annual conferences were expected to explore opportunities for HIV prevention and care, the scaling up of pastoral work and involvement in HIV and AIDS education programmes. Each bishop was also expected to issue pastoral letters on HIV and AIDS as a public health threat and also provide responsive, decisive,
734 AIDS and the healing ministry of the church, A resolution adopted by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, 1988, <http://gbgm-umc.org/health/aids/aidshealingministry.stm/>
[Accessed 1 July 2011].
735 AIDS and the healing ministry of the church.
736 The church and the global HIV and AIDS epidemic, a resolution from the General Board of Global Ministries of the UMC approved by the General Conference in 1992, <http://gbgm- umc.org.health/aids/globalaids.stm/> [Accessed 1 July 2011].
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compassionate and committed leadership to counter the effects of the epidemic.737 Thereafter, the church‘s annual conferences were expected to launch HIV and AIDS awareness, care, and prevention programmes.738 However, the fact that at the international or global level the United Methodist Church began to engage openly with AIDS from 1988 indicates a high degree of commitment at seeking to direct and empower local annual conferences to address the deadly pandemic.
3.4.2. Responses to HIV and AIDS by the Church’s Leaders in Zimbabwe The spirit of hope, engagement, acceptance, care and encouragement from the church‘s global institutions did not immediately translate into the launching of HIV interventions within the church‘s Zimbabwe Annual Conference. This was the led by Bishop Muzorewa. While the church‘s global institutions enlightened the United Methodist Church‘s annual conferences across the world on the need to respond positively to HIV and AIDS, little was achieved locally in Manicaland and Zimbabwe. The limited local AIDS-related initiatives undertaken by the leadership of the church between 1988 and 1992 could be a consequence of an understanding that it was a ‗persecuted church.‘ Within church circles, there was a perception that the relationship between Bishop Muzorewa and the State in the early 1980s could have
―cast a dark shadow on the future participation of the UMC [United Methodist Church] in carrying out HIV and AIDS interventions.‖739 The role of a head of the denomination in matters such as HIV and AIDS cannot be underestimated. Similar to any ecclesiastical authorities, the church‘s bishops played a significant role by shaping the common discourse on HIV and AIDS. Consistent with this assertion, Denis has observed: ―…the church authorities contributed, sometimes powerfully, to the public discourse on the epidemic and in this way influenced both policy and popular attitudes.‖740
737 Global Ministries of the UMC approved by the General Conference in 1992, <http://gbgm- umc.org.health/aids/globalaids.stm/> [Accessed 1 July 2011].
738 Council of Bishops, ―A statement on acquired immune deficiency syndrome.‖
739 E. Kabungaidze, same interview. See also S. Sign, same interview. See also I. Chowa, interview conducted by M. Mbona, Rusape, 21 August 2010.
740 Denis, ―The church‘s impact on HIV prevention,‖ 69.
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Between 1985 and 1994 public knowledge on HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe was scanty. AIDS was also at its infancy. This explained why the pandemic did not feature officially in the church‘s recorded local annual conference proceedings in 1984,741 and 1985.742 The major concern at the annual conference session of 1985 was political tension in the Matabeleland provinces. At that time the government had commissioned the army to ‗hunt‘ for the so-called dissidents and thus disrupted peace in the two Matabeleland provinces. The subsequent mass killings were seen in some circles as genocide.743 The State in Zimbabwe considered Bishop Muzorewa‘s political activities as a threat to national security and linked him with the destabilisation forces of South Africa‘s Pieter Botha.744 State and church relations tumbled between 1981 and 1982 after the State alleged that the Zimbabwe Council of Churches stalled channelling of reconstruction and development funds from the World Council of Churches towards proposed social development and reconstruction projects.745 These events could have weakened the input by the United Methodist Church in carrying out HIV and AIDS interventions which also affected the middle and later periods as shown by the present research study. Therefore, while the church‘s General Board of Global Ministries pledged to support the annual conferences in Africa in launching HIV and AIDS interventions, the church‘s leadership in Zimbabwe lagged behind until Muzorewa‘s retirement in 1992.
The church‘s leadership in Zimbabwe first mentioned the effects of AIDS as noted in the ―Church and Society‖ report presented at the church‘s annual conference session in December 1987.746 AIDS appeared almost as an afterthought because it was relegated to a comment in the last sentence of the report. The compilers of the report noted:
741 AM, Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC fifth session, 12-16 December 1984, 15-147.
742 United Methodist Church Africa University archives, Mutare, (UMCAUM), Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC sixth session, 12-15 December 1985, 72.
743 UMCAUM, Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC sixth session, 30.
744 C. F. Hallencreutz, ―Ecumenical challenges in independent Zimbabwe: ZCC 1980-1985,‖ in Hallencreutz and Moyo, Church and State in Zimbabwe, 270-273. See also S. R. Dorman, ‗Rocking the boat?‘ Church-NGOs and democratisation in Zimbabwe,‖ (circa 2000), 6. This article was accessed on the Internet and downloaded as pdf.
745 For a detailed analysis of this see Hallencreutz, ―Ecumenical challenges in independent Zimbabwe,‖ 252-275.
746 UMCAUM, Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC eighth session, 16-20 December 1987, 47.
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Let us continue to uphold the sanctity of Christian marriage and articulate to our members the evils of sexual promiscuity which is a major element in spreading AIDS. Teachings about this disease should be undertaken as this is spreading like grass fire.747
The church and society committee‘s mandate was to act as a link between the church‘s annual conference and Zimbabwean society in general. Thus the committee became aware of the social issues that were confronting the wider communities in Zimbabwe at that time including HIV and AIDS.
The call by the committee to uphold the sanctity of Christian marriage fitted in well with the statement that had been issued by the ZCBC in October 1987. There was no strong case to argue that since the statement issued by the ZCBC came earlier than the United Methodist‘s annual conference session in the same year, the former might have influenced the latter. It is a United Methodist Church trend that the most crucial matters were always noted from either the bishop‘s address or the district superintendents‘ composite report. The bishop, the district superintendents and the other committees did not mention anything on AIDS. This illustrates the fact that the church‘s leadership either turned a blind eye on the new epidemic or seriously underestimated the potential effects of HIV and AIDS on communities.
The apparent silence on AIDS as shown by the church‘s leadership was again noted from the reports submitted at the annual conference session held in 1988.748 However, the medical board‘s report simply mentioned in passing the surge in the number of admissions and outpatients at Old Mutare, Gatsi, and Mutambara healthcare centres among others.749 The fact that the medical board‘s report gave no further explanation on the rise in the number of patients visiting healthcare centres was not helpful to the delegates who attended the annual conference session. Similarly, the district superintendents‘ composite report also noted the high number of people coming to the
747 UMCAUM, J. Mafondokoto and G. Kambarami, ―Church and society report,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC eighth session, 64. See also A statement on acquired immune deficiency syndrome issued by the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church,
<http://gbgm-umc.org/health/aids/bishops88.stm/> [Accessed 1 July 2011].
748 UMCAUM, Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC ninth session, 14-18 December 1988. This included reports from the United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF), RRW and United Methodist Church Mubwuwi (MUMC), a guild for men who are charismatic, district superintendents as well as the church and society committee.
749 UMCAUM, ―Medical board report,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC ninth session.
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church‘s healthcare centres in need of medical treatment. This was seen as ―a strain on financial resources at Old Mutare, Mutambara in Manicaland.‖750 The major concerns of both the medical board and the district superintendents related to the ever- increasing pressure on the church‘s healthcare resources rather than the need to carry out investigations of the underlying causal factors. HIV and AIDS gradually started to become an important issue to the leadership of the church‘s annual conference in Zimbabwe later in 1989.
A year after the statement on AIDS issued by the church‘s global Council of Bishops, the local leadership of the United Methodist Church undertook a few initiatives in reaction to the epidemic. A report by the health and welfare committee presented at the church‘s annual conference session in December 1989 covered four aspects.751 First, it was noted that in 1989 Sister Nyamajiwa of Old Mutare Hospital attended a three months course specialising in AIDS healthcare, planning, communication, teaching and management in Atlanta, Georgia in the US. This was funded by Dr Johnson‘s church support programme. Second, the three hospitals at Nyadire, Old Mutare and Mutambara, with the last two being in Manicaland, started working towards promoting community, patient and staff education and awareness about AIDS. Individual and family counselling was instituted.752 Third, a church health education seminar attended by Mutasa-Makoni and Mutare South district chairpersons was held in 1989. Fourth, increased sessions on health education with a special focus on HIV and AIDS and sexually transmitted infections were to be mounted by the church‘s district health and welfare committees in 1990. The church‘s members were expected to be aware of how communities could deal with those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.753 The same report recommended that Nyamajiwa ―be available to assist her counterparts at Nyadire, and Mutambara hospitals with the medical skills crucial in addressing the pandemic.‖754 This became one of the first practical steps in responding to the pandemic at institutional level.
750 AM, ―District superintendents composite report,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC tenth session, 13-17 December 1989, 60-64.
751 AM, ―Health and welfare report,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC tenth session, 138.
752 AM, ―Health and welfare report.‖
753 AM, ―Health and welfare report,‖ 139.
754 AM, ―Health and welfare report,‖ 139.
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At the church‘s top leadership level, the district superintendents appeared unaware that HIV and AIDS was making inroads into the church. This was noted from the lack of any mention of the epidemic in their report.755 It was the health and welfare board whose report noted the board‘s intentions to ―provide awareness to all church members about the killer disease, AIDS.‖756 While the church‘s annual conference received support for human capacity building from its sister conferences in the US in 1990,757 and 1992,758 this did not translate into large scale HIV and AIDS interventions. The links between the United Methodist Church‘s annual conference in Zimbabwe and its sister annual conferences in the US has a long history, dating as far back to the beginning of the twentieth century when the church was first established.
Such relationships, enhanced by powerful networks, ―continued to serve as a lifeline for obtaining resources for the United Methodist Church in Manicaland and in Zimbabwe.‖759 Thus, the church‘s leadership in Zimbabwe benefited from its global partners. However, locally, at the annual conference level, HIV prevention and AIDS mitigation activities appeared to have minimum effect apparently because of the church‘s lack of full time personnel in this field.
3.4.3. HIV Prevention and the Condom Use Controversy
The resolution on the use of condoms passed by the church‘s annual conference session in December 1990 became a major landmark in the history of HIV prevention.
Resolution 43 reads: ―That the use of condoms be recommended to married couples as a means of family planning and protection against AIDS and indiscriminate distribution of condoms be condemned.‖760 Significantly, the leadership of the church‘s annual conference moved beyond mere moralising about the pandemic. The church‘s leadership took practical steps to safeguard its members who were prone to
755 For this see UMCAUM, ―District superintendents composite report,‖ and ―Conference lay leaders report,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC eleventh session, 12-16 December 1990, 47-54.
756 UMCAUM, ―Health and welfare report,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC eleventh session, 165-172.
757 UMCAUM, ―Health and welfare report,‖ 166.
758 See also AM, ―Health and welfare report,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC thirteenth session, 9-13 December 1992, 187.
759 S. Sign, same interview.
760 UMCAUM, ―Resolutions,‖ Official Journal of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference of the UMC eleventh session, 203.
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infection, especially women. While three years previously the position of the church‘s global Council of Bishops had been very pragmatic on this matter, the local church‘s leadership appeared hesitant to implement the recommendations on the use of condoms. This delay was less helpful to ordinary people.
Within the context whereby local African cultural traditions and Christian morality on sexuality did not support sex outside marriage, the church‘s leadership treaded cautiously. Also, while the resolution appeared to be helpful to couples at risk of contracting HIV, it overlooked the challenges faced by churchwomen in exercising choices of safe sex. Studies done on women and sexuality on the African continent showed that married women were often not at liberty to negotiate the use of condoms as part of safe sex because it was perceived as ‗culturally unacceptable‘ to their spouses. As Daryl Somma and Claudia Bodiang have observed: ―Women talking their male partner about sex may be taboo in certain communities and recommending them to negotiate safe sex may thus be culturally inappropriate and ineffective.‖761 The use of condoms in the prevention of sexually transmitted HIV received support from the State in Zimbabwe through the MOHCW.762 Within the United Methodist Church, condoms have always been considered to be a contraceptive device within marriage, and the church did not officially discourage couples from using them.763
Generally, the fear of HIV bestowed new value on condoms – that is from being used as a method of contraception to now being used as prophylactics. Jane Makunike of Tsonzo near Watsomba, Mutasa district, stated that from the mid-1980s onwards, condoms suddenly became quite prominent because they reduced the chances of HIV.764 Despite this new reality, it was still not easy for married churchwomen to take condoms home for use with spouses. The fact that churchwomen from the United Methodist Church were not at liberty to suggest the use of condoms as prophylactics rendered them at risk of contracting HIV from unsafe sex. Cultural perceptions of a
761 D. B. Somma and C. K. Bodiang, The cultural approach to HIV/AIDS prevention, Social Development Division‘s Health Desk, Swiss Tropical Institute, (2003), 7.
762 This was implied in the Medium Term Plan 1 (MTP1) 1988-1993.
763 J. Makunike, interview conducted by M. Mbona, Makunike farm, Watsomba, Mutasa, 13 September 2010. See also I. Chowa, same interview. See alos T. Matsika, interview conducted by M. Mbona, Rukweza UMC circuit, 8 September 2010. For a further perspective on this see: UMC, Responsible parenthood, <http://umc.org/ interior_print.asp?ptid=4&mid=991/> [Accessed 9 July 2011].
764 J. Makunike, same interview.