Wednesday's Blog
I'm in the farming community of Marcellus, Mi. Which is even smaller than the last town I was in. Surprise! The whole family is here to celebrate Grandpa's birthday and to meet the in-laws of their youngest daughter who is getting married. We're spending a couple days here and then we'll head back to New Jersey early Saturday. Erm...these are hardcore farmers, apparently they own over 30,000 acres in corn in the family....thats a lot of corn. everyone in the family farms except for my pastor's family.
So late tuesday night before I went to bed, I stumbled across a TV program that featured the actress Ashley Judd and singer/songwriter India Arie.
In this documentary, they featured these two people's journey to make a difference in the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Ashley is the YouthAids global ambassador, and she visited Madagascar, where she visited, helped and worked with youth. India felt called to go to Kenya, where the epidemic is also widespread.
The attitude towards AIDS in these countries is similar to how it was in North America in the 80s. Nobody talks about it or is interested to find out more - ignorance on the issue is rampant. This is precisely what these ladies are fighting against, so a lot of their efforts are focussed towards educating the Africans. It was so clear though, that these big name stars were interested first and foremost in loving these people, before they even began any of their teaching sessions. They sat down with these folk in their environments (hospitals, slums, and brothels), heard their story, cried with them, and loved them.
This brings to mind two things for me. I think it is so crucial to love people before we say a single thing to them about changing their lives - for whatever reason. Some people say that could work for some, but if you are really passionate about your message, and it could solve the problem, then why waste the time in getting to know people, just give 'em the real deal. Let 'em deal with it. Somehow I think Ashley and India could have come in to these countries, teach some lessons and left, but the impact that they made in the lives of these people were really amazing. And every time they learnt to love a different person, you could see a part of themselves changing and becoming something beautiful.
On another note, I've been sensing a growing interest and God moving my heart slowly but surely towards being a part of this whole AIDS crisis. Maybe some time in the future, I'll be able to play a small part in fighting in the war against AIDS.
So late tuesday night before I went to bed, I stumbled across a TV program that featured the actress Ashley Judd and singer/songwriter India Arie.
In this documentary, they featured these two people's journey to make a difference in the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Ashley is the YouthAids global ambassador, and she visited Madagascar, where she visited, helped and worked with youth. India felt called to go to Kenya, where the epidemic is also widespread.
The attitude towards AIDS in these countries is similar to how it was in North America in the 80s. Nobody talks about it or is interested to find out more - ignorance on the issue is rampant. This is precisely what these ladies are fighting against, so a lot of their efforts are focussed towards educating the Africans. It was so clear though, that these big name stars were interested first and foremost in loving these people, before they even began any of their teaching sessions. They sat down with these folk in their environments (hospitals, slums, and brothels), heard their story, cried with them, and loved them.
This brings to mind two things for me. I think it is so crucial to love people before we say a single thing to them about changing their lives - for whatever reason. Some people say that could work for some, but if you are really passionate about your message, and it could solve the problem, then why waste the time in getting to know people, just give 'em the real deal. Let 'em deal with it. Somehow I think Ashley and India could have come in to these countries, teach some lessons and left, but the impact that they made in the lives of these people were really amazing. And every time they learnt to love a different person, you could see a part of themselves changing and becoming something beautiful.
On another note, I've been sensing a growing interest and God moving my heart slowly but surely towards being a part of this whole AIDS crisis. Maybe some time in the future, I'll be able to play a small part in fighting in the war against AIDS.
posted by Cheryl & Darrell | 5:42 PM
1 Comments:
Darrell,
You may already know about this, but famous Canadian Stephen Lewis is working on the AIDS problem in Africa. I was astounted that only a little help from rich countries could make a huge difference.
http://stephenlewisfoundation.org/aboutus.html
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