Kwa Zulu Natal Province

PACSA RESEARCH - REPORT BACK

Exploring how local churches are integrating HIV/AIDS within the life of the church and what outreach programmes they have in communities

Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness

PACSA has conducted research with thirty churches in the KZN Midlands area to explore how local churches are integrating HIV/AIDS within the life of the church and what outreach programmes they have for their own and other communities. It also offers PWHAs’ perspectives within the same churches.

This understanding will help churches to understand better how people living with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers feel about their place in their churches, and what kind of support they would value.

The research also obtains information from churches on how networks and ecumenical organizations like PACSA could best assist churches to develop their HIV/AIDS ministries

If you would like a copy of the research report, please call Thuli Hlatshwayo at 033 342 0052 or email thulih@pacsa.org.za

Report on SACLA KZN meeting held at African Enterprise: 9 October 2004

Brydal Martin

1. The Positives

The venue was great; quiet, easy to get to, had all the amenities needed.

The preparation was good handled well by Val Peatie; teas, coffees and lunch

logistics was par excellence, thanks to Val.

The people who came, two distinct groups; One a smaller group of aprox 12 in number made up of passionate for change and already active in some form of giant killing in KZN.

Second group was one large youth group from a church known as Conquering through prayer based in Durban, numbering some twenty.

What was encouraging to see and as we journeyed trough the day was the following:

Worship and Prayer and the real sense of the presence of God.

Active participation during the time of prayer.

Networking; this was amazing to witness in such a small group.

Sharing, fellowship and the small group dynamics.

Working through the working document put together by Trevor Jennings and Mark Manley

2. Some of the negatives!

As usual, sadly some arrived late, we had prepared to start at 10.00 am where we had some arriving after 11.00 am and indeed the youth group closer to midday.

In a small group dynamic this brought disruptive difficulties of its own.

Lack of understanding or confusion in regard to the primary objective of meeting for the day.

Audiovisual presentation equipment or lack of; this was largely due to our own lack of preparation and here I must take the blame as I had assumed all would be working well at the venue.

Lack of attendance by a broader representation of Leaders, Champions from KZN

i.e. very few church leaders, rainbow colours were marked absent except for one or two and no representation at all in a number of giant area’s such as justice-crime and family.

3. Closing comments and the way forward

My own view is that at the very least we have made a start in KZN. There appears to have been some confusion as to the objective of this particular meeting which from my perspective was to see a facilitation team come into place by the end of the day, in order to take the SACLA process forward in KZN.

However all is not lost, the process has begun and actually has continued from where we left off in Pretoria 2003. My and our aim should now be to add to what we achieved yesterday in preparation for the year 2005. This is to see a facilitation team with as broader representation as possible but not larger in number than say 10 maximum in place by the end of November 2004. With this objective in mind, I wish to have a second strategic and planning meeting on the Saturday the 13 November 2004, hopefully at the same venue. However this meeting will be more clearly defined in terms of objective and attendance.

In terms of attendance I wish to invite those who have already indicated a willingness to serve on a facilitation committee and to extend an invitation to others on our data base who enjoy a sense of conviction of a greater calling in getting involved in taking the SACLA process forward in KZN.

This to be confirmed in respect of venue, date and time by the end of this week.

Should anyone who receives this report wish to give me any feedback in response to either my report or to the recent meeting held, please feel free to do so.

My contact details are bmartin@excellife.co.za, tel: 031 266 4333 - office, 031 2661165 - home, 082 491 2290 - cell

With warm regards to all

Brydal Martin