This theme seeks to explore the silence among Northdale/Raisethorpe Christian Indians to examine the possibility that it is a myth that HIV/AIDS is not a threat to Northdale/Raisethorpe Christian Indians. Interview collections and research findings support the hypothesis that HIV/AIDS is not a threat to Northdale/Raisethorpe Christian Indians.
A Model of Care
Basic Skills for Christian Counselling 5.2.4 Relating the Models to the needs in
Counselling and Care Centre
Existing HIVIAIDS Church Ministries .1 Other Christian Ministries
Christian Care 5.5 Concluding Remarks
Conclusion
Stemming from this research 6.2 The Church in Action
- HIV/AIDS Training for Workers 6.2.2 Projected Ministries
- Counselling and Care Centre 6.2.4 Project Development
Implications of this study 6.4 Concluding Remarks
Map of Pietermaritzburg
Map of Northdale/Raisethorpe 125
Northdale Hospital: Infection Control
Northdale Hospital: Infection Control
Northdale Hospital: Infection Control
CHAPTERl
Introduction
- IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM
- MOTIVATION
- METHODOLOGY
- Delimitation
- Northdale/Raisethorpe
- Location of Northdale/Raisethorpe
- History of Northdale/Raisethorpe
- HIV/AIDS in Northdale/Raisethorpe
- Definitions of HIV/AIDS
- Stigmas and Pride Issues attached to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic
- The Demography of N/R
- Medical Statistics
- Interviews
- Concluding Remarks
I had to rethink my own ministry in light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that was rapidly engulfing our communities. This research will show that it is a myth that Christian Indians of N/R are not affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Indians of Northdale/ Raisethorpe infected and affected by HIV/AIDS
Introduction
Case Studies and Evaluations
- A Father's Disclosure of his Son's HIVAIDS Status
- Evaluation
- Death of HI VIA IDS Couple
- Evaluation
- Disclosure: a little too late
- Reasons for disclosure
- Evaluation
- A Response
- An open disclosure
- Evaluation
- Baby miraculously saved
- Evaluation
- Some Parallels to be drawn
- South African Indians contrasted with those in India
- Silent Epidemic in India
- Indian family and lifestyles
- Concluding Remarks
The local church ministers interviewed have confirmed that there is a stigma attached to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Leila's mother said she had defied threats to break her silence about her daughter dying of the HIV/AIDS virus.
Gender, Church and HIV/AIDS in Northdale/Raisethorpe
3 Introduction
The Problem and its Background
- The Gender and Abuse Issue
- HIV/AIDS as a Crisis for Women
- Cultural complexities for women with HIV/AIDS
One of the main problems currently facing the churches in the N/R area is the lack of effective Christian ministry in the fight against HIV/AIDS.\ Med. In the beginning, the Indians settled mainly in Durban, but then they moved around the rest of the country. In N/R, due to Indian culture, women are not allowed to talk about their struggles, but have to bear their pain in silence. Women have become conditioned to such vulnerability (Tallis 1998:9).
52 very little of Africa or South Africa. The houses would contain many Indian and/or Western cultural images. Carolyn Baylies and Janet Bujra (2000) have summarized the gender struggle by stating that “…the epidemic has in turn influenced the ongoing construction. Indian culture does not help women in their fight against the virus, but is designed to do so.” a way that enables gender bias. The gender bias makes it possible.
This led to the rise of the myth that HIVAIDS is not a threat to Christian Indians in N/R.
Myths surrounding HIV/AIDS in Northdale/Raisethorpe
Here the claim is made that in order to follow God's justice one must promote gender equality. In this chapter, we have seen that the culture of Indians in this area has implications for why Indians, including Christian Indians, remain silent about their HIVIAIDS status.
Existing HIV/AIDS Church Ministries
- Other Christian Ministries
The Church in Northdale/Raisethorpe has not yet established an HIV/AIDS Counseling and Care Centre. Pastor Victor Rhandran of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Northdale/Raisethorpe informed me during the interview that they do not have any HIV positive members in their congregation.
The Pandemic that targets Everyone
- The Churchs' Response: War against HIV/AIDS
- Education Ministries: Seminars
- Caring Ministries
In its war on people, HIV/AIDS takes more lives than international wars have claimed. HIV/AIDS cannot be fought alone. Silence and denial lead to one being defeated by the virus. One cannot blame it on the government alone. There were two HIV/AIDS seminars in the N/R region, one at Jesus Miracle Revival Church and one at Alpha Omega Church.
Both focused on areas outside N/R under the pretext that HIV/AIDS was not a problem in that area. However, these seminars did not address the possibility that there could be people in N/R who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The writer was told that people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA), including Christian Indians, do come forward for help but are afraid to break their silence.
She expressed her disappointment that the religious sector of N/R has done very little to address the issue of HIV/AIDS.
Concluding Remarks
Sumaya Khan and Eric Chetty, social workers, provide free counseling to victims of sexual abuse, abuse of women and children, poverty, and those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. These misinformed persons are spreading fallacies. The pulpit in these churches should be used to preach the good news in its context to people on HIV/AIDS day. The Bible has many answers to our problems today and how we should respond to them. InN/R, as elsewhere, there is a need for churches to speak the facts and inform people about HIV/AIDS.
If N/R members do not reconsider their stance on the issue of HIV/AIDS, many lives will be lost. AIDS can be singled out to test the church's obedience to God's call. The importance is to illustrate the call for caution. The passage quoted above (Matthew 25:35-40) can be linked to this dissertation to find a solution to the myth that N/R Christian Indians are not affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The theology of truth and the role of clergy, Christians and the church should bring counseling and care to people infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS virus.
CHAPTERS
Pastoral Counseling and Care 5. Introduction
Theology of the Church
- Church and HIV/AIDS: The Role of the Church
- A model for Christian Marriages and Family Life
In the above verse, the founder of the Church calls his followers to care for fellow human beings. The role of the church is to be a 'new community' which bears witness to the coming of God's kingdom in the midst of the world. The writer's view is that the church must be seen as part of the social project, which plays a decisive role in the larger society.
The church has been repeatedly criticized for its lack of contribution to help fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In light of such neglect, the criticism leveled at the church has been vindicated. Sound Christian theology guides the church in the role it should play in the world today.
No one has been more candid than Susan Rakoczy in describing the church's position on HIV/AIDS.
Theology of Pastoral Counselling and Care
- The Importance of Counselling
From the WCC quote above, it is clear that the church is the bearer of pastoral care. The N/R community indicated to the writer that church pastoral care is needed in times of crisis. Today's church service assumes a community-based understanding and focus of the church.
This is the very essence of the church's responsibility: to demonstrate transformed lives that are prepared to care for the lost. Mwaura also maintains that the church must undergo a spiritual and material mission. As such, pastoral care in the church must be comprehensive, taking into account all levels of human care, i.e. physical.
The church must mobilize its people to do the work of ministry and relieve pain and suffering.
Responding/ self-exploration Helper's goal: Responding
Respond to the customer and what they have to say with respect and empathy; establish rapport, an effective collaborative working relationship with the client; facilitate the client's self-exploration. To explore his experiences, behavior and feelings that are relevant to the issues in his life; to explore the ways in which he or she lives ineffectively.
Integrative understanding/ dynamic self- understanding Helper's goal: Integrative understanding
Facilitating action/acting Helper's goal: Facilitating action
- Basic skills for Christian Counselling
- Relating the Models to the needs in Northdale/Raisethorpe
- Death and Dying
- Existing HIV/AIDS Church Ministries
- Other Christian Ministries
- Concluding Remarks
In light of those infected and/or affected by the HN/AIDS pandemic, this model guides the church in the steps to be followed in caring for them. The Church would do well to train caregivers according to this model so that a high standard of care could be maintained. It takes mature Christians to both understand and implement Christian care for the needy. The culture of caring for others should be in focus. HIV/AIDS has heralded an opportunity for the church to counsel and care for those who have been infected and affected by the pandemic.
N/R, as part of KZN, also needs the church to be made available to provide pastoral care to those infected and affected by the virus, especially those who are dying. The church in Northdale and Raisethorpe has not yet set up an HIV/AIDS counseling and care centre. The church is expected to be a 'popular service' to all God's people, and especially to the marginalized, the sick, the suffering.
The church's silence, denial and lack of ministry has proven to be a pastoral concern.
Conclusion: Till HIV/AIDS Do Us Part
Introduction
- Stemming from this research
- The Church in Action
- HIV/AIDS Training for Workers
- Projected Ministries
- Counselling and Care Centre
- Implications of this study
- Concluding Remarks
In the case of N/R and the HIV/AIDS issue, it is learned from the previous chapter that education and certain ministries must be provided by the church. Community needs include other social crises, such as women and child abuse; poverty; the homeless; the HIV/AIDS pandemic; and the high rate of teenage suicide in N/R. The church must meet the varied needs of its community. In N/R, the myth that HIV/AIDS is not a threat to the Christian Indians calls for a response from the church.
It was also found that the Church did not respond quickly to the needs of those infected and affected by the pandemic. The Church can no longer deny that HIV/AIDS does not affect Christian Indians in N/R. Priority should be given to the plight of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
It has already been proven that the duty of the church is not to judge, but to serve.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In Baylies, C and Bujra, J (Eds.), Sexuality and gender in Africa: collective strategies and struggles in Tanzania and Zambia: 1-24. Sexuality and gender in Africa: collective strategies and struggles in Tanzania and Zambi a: 174-197. London: Routledge. Broader Concerns of an AIDS Ministry, AIDS: Ministry in the Middle of the Epidemic. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
I Aronstein, DM og Thompson, BJ (red.). HIV og socialt arbejde: A Practioner's Guide. London: The Harrington Press. In Hope KR (Ed) Aids and Development in Africa: A Social science Perspective.London New York Oxford: The Haworth Press.
Map of Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg Borough
Map of Northdale/Raisethorpe
PLAN O F NORTHDALE AND RAISETHORPE
Northdale Hospital: Infection Control Statistics 1999
Infection Control • Northdale Hospital · Annual Statistics
Northdale Hospital: Infection Control Statistics 2000
Infection Control - Northdale Hospital - Annual Statistics - 2000 I
Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov DecJan
Northdale Hospital: Infection Control Yearly statistics for 1999 and 2000
INTERVIEWS
Appointments were arranged and interviews held in Pietermaritzburg with the following persons who I felt could make a contribution to my thesis, which addresses the HIV/AIDS myth of Christian Indians from Northdale/Raisethorpe. Have you come across anyone from your church who is either infected or affected by the virus. Do you treat any Indian patients or provide medication to those inNIR who are HIV positive.
Does your organization offer any assistance to those who have been infected or affected by the pandemic. Why do you think Indians in N/R remain silent and deny the effects of the pandemic.
