Worship Service for World AIDS Day 2010

You are encouraged to use this order of worship on World AIDS Day – Wednesday, 1 December 2010. It may also be used at a service on the Saturday or Sunday before or after World AIDS Day, or at any other time over the coming year. It can be used in conjunction with or as a stand alone “Light for Rights” event: www.lightforrights.org

Special items needed for this service are four candles, a recording of Bob Marley’s song “Could you be loved” (‘youtube’ version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4yCCr_CpwE) and copies of the EAA’s letter on HIV and Food (attached as an annex). Optional items include handbells and/or a basket of bread or fruit.

You are also advised to read the EAA’s webpage that explores the links between HIV and Food and download any resources that your congregation may find useful. You can also order hard copies of the EAA’s factsheet on HIV and the Right to Food as well as its advocacy one-pager by emailing rfoley@e-alliance.ch

The service can be downloaded from http://www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/hivaids/world-aids-day/. It is also available in French, Spanish and German, along with other resources for World AIDS Day. Please feel free to adapt the service to your own local context.

Come, you who are hungry for acceptance

Thirsty for love and

In need of food and provisions, healing and hope

Just as you are – come!

Are afflicted, who comfort the afflicted, the poor,

the needy . . . the hungry,

the crying, the dying, those who thirst for

the nourishment of food and a space at the table

one and all; sick and hearty, hungry and full – come!

of apathy, ignorance, hopelessness and despair

to provide healing for the broken, comfort for the afflicted

hope for the forsaken and bread for the hungry

Who give voice to the voiceless

Christ bids you come, as you are,

wherever you are…

HIV also has an impact on food security. At the household level, AIDS-related diseases can limit people’s energy levels and ability to work and earn money to buy food. Time and household resources, particularly those of women, are also consumed by caring for sick family members. At the community level, HIV and AIDS reduce the number of productive people in the labor force and limit agricultural output, further reducing food security. Social exclusion and discrimination also increase the vulnerability of people affected by HIV and AIDS to hunger.

In turn, a lack of food or income may force people to prioritize buying food over ARVs, and thus reduce the effectiveness of HIV treatment further. Food insecurity, limited earning options or resources, and conflict or other emergencies can also increase people’s vulnerability to HIV as they can lead to higher-risk behaviors such as engaging in sex for food or money.

These cyclical linkages call for comprehensive approaches to both ensuring food security for all and to achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

a living manifestation of your promises of a feast for all.

Restore us to life for our sisters’ and brothers’ sakes dear Lord.

Christ’s love sets us free from our sins

and calls us into loving relationship with each other.

Christ has forgiven us, and we are now at peace.

Because Christ has set us free from our sins,

we can share God’s marvellous light with others.

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.

Just two years ago, Jhupri B.K. was losing her battle with HIV.

She had lived with her husband in Mumbai, India, for 15 years where her husband was working as a watchman. Shortly after they returned to their Nepali village in Siddheshwor, Accham, her husband died of an AIDS-related illness. Not long after her husband’s death, she too fell sick. When she underwent a blood test in Accham, she found out that she too was infected with HIV. That is when her real ordeal began. She fell so ill that she became bedridden. Her hair started falling off and she had skin problems. None of her neighbors came near her for fear of contracting her disease.

“HIV/AIDS almost took my life. I was losing my consciousness because of the disease and I was not aware of anything. I didn’t even know that my two-year-old son, who was also HIV positive, had died. To date, I do not remember the moment when he was taken for cremation. I had lost all hope of living,” Jhupri says.

Luckily, the volunteer facilitators working with people living with HIV in the area came to her aid and took her to Mangalsen, the Accham district headquarter for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. She says the ARV worked magic on her and her health started improving. She has now been on medication for two years. However, her ordeal has not come to an end yet: She has a family of six including herself and her five children. Her second daughter is also HIV positive, which alone has been reason enough for her to be discriminated against at school. This comes in addition to the discrimination she daily faces for belonging to the Dalit community, the so-called impure and untouchable community. Without a source of income to feed the family of six, managing every meal is a real challenge for Jhupri.

“The ARV treatment makes me very hungry and the doctor says I need to maintain a proper diet and have nutritious food. But how can I myself eat when I can’t even manage two meals a day for my children? Moreover, I have to walk to Mangalsen to fetch the medicine, because I can’t afford to travel in a vehicle. The walk takes about three days,” Jhupri explains.

After starting the ARV treatment, Jhupri recovered from her physical illness, but did not attain a state of wellbeing, as she felt very distressed. She had no one to share her suffering with. The support provided by Youths in Empowerment Sector (YES) Nepal, an affiliate of Sansthagat Bikas Sanjal, has become a shoulder for her to rest her head upon, when she feels exasperated. Jhupri speaks warmly of the support volunteer facilitator Khemraj Bhul has been giving her. The volunteer facilitator coordinates efforts with other organizations to provide all the support possible.

“I feel very good, when I talk to Khem Raj. He treats me like an aunt and often visits me to check how I am doing. The support that YES Nepal has given me is invaluable. The information and facts about HIV the volunteers gave me have helped me lead a healthy lifestyle. I now know about HIV/ AIDS and talk to my neighbors about it,” Jhupri says.

Jhupri is now well informed about the modes of transmission of HIV. She regularly interacts with women whose husbands are in India. She also gives advice to people who have returned from India to undergo voluntary counseling and testing for HIV. The dream that Jhupri B. K. now has is to see her children educated, so that they can earn a decent living for themselves and wouldn’t have to travel too far to look for work.

Jhupri B.K. represents many of the women in the Accham district, who are facing the consequences of something that was not their fault. Having contracted HIV from husbands who worked in India and have since passed away, they now struggle everyday as the sole bread-winners in their family. Their wish is to create a better future for their children.

But he answered, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’

Medicine alone is not enough…

Food alone is not enough…

Prayers alone are not enough…

Together we are strong

Together we can feed each other

We get sick, weak, cannot produce

We can no longer feed ourselves or our children

We cannot pass on our skills to them

So the cycle of life is broken.

And today we join hearts and hands with action

that for the sake of those present and those to come,

our action matches our passion!

we love each other.

We know God in the breaking of bread,

and we know each other

in the sharing of bread

Heaven is a banquet, and life is, too

— even with a crust —

as long as there is companionship.

we have learned that the only solution is love.

As love comes with community,

Let us learn to live as a loving community today.

Queuing for water and food

Watching their little children

Losing energy to play,

Looking for rain,

For work and health and harvest.

In their time of waiting,

be their heart’s courage

and their souls’ hope; make their desert bloom.

You too were born a child

Not free into our world:

Subject to poverty, harassment by foreign powers,

And dangers to your health.

Let us cry freedom for your children

now, at this time,

and through all generations.

Maker of all that grows,

You did not create us to be separate from the earth,

But planted us in a garden

To tend it and care for it.

We thank you for the multitude of plants that nourish our bodies,

Comfort our pain

And give us pleasure.

At which no one is hungry and all are fed,

At which no one is unwanted, and all are loved,

At which the sick are healed and the broken restored,

At which the grieving are comforted and the lost found.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Sustainer.

Who knows the hunger of those longing for food,

The thirst of those without water;

The pain of those praying for wholeness,

Make us to be bread broken for our brothers and sisters,

Until all are fed.

Amen.