This is an excerpt from the Blood:Water Mission’s Homepage (www.bloodwatermission.com):
“When Dan Haseltine, Jars of Clay’s lead singer, visited Africa in 2002, he had to struggle to accept what he saw. Poverty and physical and social suffering in Africa shook him, challenged him, and changed him.
Haseltine returned overwhelmed by despair, transformed by hope and called to action. He came back with a vision for clean blood and clean water in Africa — blood free of the HIV virus and water free of parasites and bacteria that cause AIDS patients and others undue suffering. He and his band mates envisioned this orphaned continent to be transformed through the installation of Christ’s sacrificial symbols of blood and water.”
Here are a few questions for us to ponder:
1. How aware are we of the ongoing AIDS crisis in Africa?
2. How does faith motivate us to engage this issue?
3. Is there a particular way you are taking part in the global AIDS crisis?
4. What do you think of the approach of providing clean blood and water?
Discuss : )
One way to do this is through giving micro-loans to Africans apparently! I have been using kiva.org to loan money to small businesses in Africa. If you have a spare $25, you can loan it to some worthy person in Africa, and when the loan is paid back, you can either have the money paid back to you or loan it to someone else. Here is an update that I got today:
Dear Mark Cole,
This is an update on Michael Kioo written by Max Schoening:
Pastor Kioo started his pig farming business with one pig. After successfully growing the pig to 50 Kilos, he sold it for a price of 8,000 Kenya Schillings, and with that money was able to purchase three. Three years later, he proudly stands in front of a pig sty that accommodates 26. It has not been easy work, considering the down and dirty nature of pig raising, but the former farmer has embraced it with vigor. His Kiva loan played a large part, as it allowed him to purchase 8 new pigs. Pigs take about one year to raise to the point when he can sell them to Kenya Farmer’s Choice in Nairobi. Grade 1 pigs, evaluated on size, go for a price of 8,000 Ksh, while grade 2 pigs go for 5-6 thousand Ksh (1 USD is about 67 Ksh). Pastor Kioo sells his pigs once every 2-3 months.
Apart from raising pigs, Pastor Kioo is a central figure in the Malaba community. Malaba is a border town with Uganda, and serves as a gateway to East and Central Africa. All day, every day, hundreds of trucks pass through the main strip carrying goods from Mombassa, on the eastern coast of Kenya to destinations as far as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Southern Sudan, Rwanda, and Burundi. Much of the licit economy goes towards serving these well paid truckers—hotels, truck washers, cargo processors, barber shops, etc. Unfortunately, the truck stop nature of Malaba combined with its poverty has resulted in a thriving illicit economy to serve the truckers who spend the night before departing for Uganda. Prostitution is rampant, and consequently, so is HIV-AIDS. Some estimate that over 50% of the community is HIV+. Whatever the official statistic is, HIV-AIDS has a devastating impact on the community.
Pastor Kioo is very enthusiastic about the impact of micro-loans on his community. As he says from personal experience, we were poor, and the loans have uplifted us up to a fair level. He has used earnings from the pig business to purchase a house, pay for his children’s school fees, and give his wife money to start her own small shop. He glowingly refers to all these accomplishments. Pastor Kioo is also proud of the fact that he has been able to employ an orphan to work with the pigs. He pays the hardworking young man a salary of 1,500 Ksh/ month, and has taken him into his house as his own.
Pastor Kioo looks forward to more Kiva loans for his own business, and sees the promise in them uplifting the community as a whole.
In the photo, Pastor Kioo stands in front of the sty with the orphan he has taken under his wing.
Kiva very much appreciates your responses online. You can read and respond to this journal online at:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=comment&id=3881&ent=14580
Some of our partners choose to write their journal entries in the local language in order to keep their overhead low. If this journal entry is in a foreign language, please feel free to use an online translator such as Altavista’s Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com).
Thanks!
— Kiva Staff
I didn’t do my tags right so the part of the letter that I wanted to emphasize got lost!
Here it is:
Pastor Kioo has spearheaded an initiative that directly addresses the problems facing Malaba. The program offers assistance to orphans and widows who have been left behind by HIV-AIDS. Orphans are able to receive support with school fees and clothing.
I believe that everyone should have clean water – just think if every American church could adopt an African village, and provide clean water to them! (along with the Gospel!) (and maybe blood).
Mark,
Thanks for stopping by. Good words. We’re planning an arts event this Fall that will raise money for a cause in Africa. We’re still working on the details. I prefer long term partnerships, but we’ll see what happens.
Matt