Trip highlights MCC AIDS work in Nigeria, Congo

A recent trip by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) staff to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo reinforced the importance of supporting AIDS prevention and care activities.

MCC News Photo supplied by: E. Raid

Representatives from several MCC provincial and regional offices saw first-hand the devastation AIDS is wreaking on families in these countries, as well as the efforts of dedicated local people to fight the epidemic.

In Nigeria, the group visited a Christian clinic and support group for HIV-positive people, and also attended an AIDS prevention presentation by MCC partner Fellowship of Christian Students. Ken Sensenig, of MCC East Coast, is pictured (left photo) talking to Ezra Ovey Henry following the presentation at St. John’s College, a secondary school in the city of Jos. Fellowship of Christian Students travels to schools in the region to discuss how AIDS is transmitted and to encourage abstinence as the best way of avoiding the disease.

In Congo, AIDS’ impact on families was evident when the group visited orphans being supported through a local MCC partner organization. Elizabeth Raid, of MCC Central States, is pictured (right photo) with Sephora, age 6, who lost both of her parents to AIDS. Now the little girl and her four siblings are cared for by their grandparents in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. Displayed behind Sephora is a comforter that the struggling family received as part of a recent MCC material aid shipment.

While some trip participants set out expecting to be overwhelmed and depressed by the enormity of the AIDS problem, they instead returned home with new energy for responding to the crisis.

MCC News Photo: Emmanuel Akpo

“From a distance, it all seems so hopeless. These countries are so troubled by so many challenges,” reflected Abe Janzen, of MCC Alberta, in a Calgary Herald article following the trip. “But these are countries of great faith. . . . There is huge hope. I was never so inspired.”

Also on the May 10–27 trip were Sarah Adams, coordinator of Generations at Risk, MCC’s AIDS program; Phil Schafran, of MCC British Columbia; and Raid’s husband, Lou Gomez Jr. For more on Generations at Risk, go to mcc.org.