Rev Gideon Byamugisha – Uganda
Dr Mukwege – DRCongo
Dr Geoff Foster - Zimbabwe
Dr Peter Okaalet – Kenya
Dr Gisela Schnieder – Germany
All nominees are acknowledged as demonstrating excellence and authenticity in keeping with Micah 6:8. They are excellent role models for us all.
--------------------------------
Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha, Kampala, Uganda
Canon Gideon Byamugisha is an ordained priest in the Church of Uganda.
In 1992, he became the first African religious leader to openly declare his HIV-positive status. He has since devoted his life to an AIDS ministry which has taken him to over 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the world.
Work
Gideon is driven by a passion for the dignity and rights of all people, especially those marginalised, stigmatised and discriminated against because of their HIV-positive status. He has played leading roles in the Church of Uganda's AIDS program, the Uganda AIDS Commission, World Vision International, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, special conferences of the United Nations, and in founding the African Network of Religious Leaders living with or Affected by HIV and AIDS.
Impact
Gideon has successfully challenged AIDS-related stigma, denial and discrimination within and outside the church. He has corrected wrong and misleading information about HIV and AIDS, and provided accurate and relevant information in a clear, easily understandable manner. He has spread awareness of the multi-sectoral dimensions of the AIDS pandemic, especially the ways in which people's choices are influenced by poverty, gender discrimination, cultural practices and sexual violence. He argues that HIV and AIDS are both preventable and manageable.
He calls upon people to spread hope about HIV through peer education, counselling, home-based care, practical help and prayer, pointing to an array of outstanding work with which people can engage.
------------------------------
Denis Mukwege, Bukavu, DRC
Dr Denis Mukwege is a gynaecologist, who is working in Bukavu, South Kivu, Eastern Congo. He trained in France but went back to DRC many years ago to serve at a mission hospital in a rural area of South Kivu. 10 years ago he had to flee this region and his hospital was burnt down in the war. Dr Mukwege did not return to France but started a new hospital in Bukavu. He opened a maternity unit, but his first operation was not a caesarean section, but a woman who was destroyed by war – raped by soldiers and with large injuries to her genital organs. Dr Mukwege saved her life and restored her dignity once again.
Since that day he has not stopped fighting for the survival of women in the community. He developed an excellent centre for women who were raped, 3600 women are treated at this centre per year. He trained young doctors in this type of surgery and care and developed a psycho- social support network for the women who often could not return home into their villages because of war. He never was afraid to operate on women whether they are living with HIV or not. His work and testimony reaches far not only South Kivu, but all of DRC and on a global level.
He did not only assist women but he started to advocate for the right of the women and families in the villages of South Kivu whose life is at risk because of external forces who exploit the land for coltan, gold and other minerals. Dr Mukwege speaks up and he says: “We do not want money we need peace in our country”.
Impact at local and wider level
At local level Dr Mukwege has made a huge impact on the lives of women who are raped or are suffering from VVF, many of whom are HIV positive. In addition he has worked as an advocate for peace in DRC on an international level and has spoken for the many women whose life stories are too sad to tell.
Empowers others in integrated community response In post war Congo, it is not easy to do community work. But Dr Mukwege started a psycho-social service for the women at Panzi hospital. With mobile teams he now reaches rural areas with services for women. In addition as the head of the ECC (Eglise du Christ du Congo) medical work, he mobilises churches and communities to get involved in the healing ministry of the church. He is head of a health zone in Bukavu and coordinates the church health services in 22 health zones throughout South Kivu.
Facilitates Church integration and participation
Dr Mukwege is an elder in the church (CEPAC) in Bukavu. He is very much aware of the importance of the integration and participation of the church in the healing ministry and recently started a new approach of envisioning the church to participate in this ministry.
Empowerment of PLWHA
Dr Mukwege does not only work with PLWHA but he works with all women who are sexually assaulted, many of whom are HIV positive. They are actively involved in the care and recovery process and many of his counsellors and workers are women who have recovered from such trauma.
---------------------
Dr Geoff Foster, Zimbabwe.
Significant Impact locally, regionally and internationally.
Geoff recognized in 1987 that HIV was a devastating exploding epidemic when he saw, within a few weeks, many infants dying of AIDS at the Mutare government hospital . He began a crusade which continues through today to alert the world through publications, speaking, and demonstrating personal concern as a paediatrician in Zimbabwe. In my opinion noone else has been more effective in bringing to the world’s attention the plight of children affected by HIV/AIDS and break the silence and hopelessness of Paediatric AIDS.
Below are a sample of his contributions:
- A review of current literature on the impact of HIV/AIDS on children in sub-Saharan Africa (2000) by Geoff Foster and John Williamson
- Where the heart is: Meeting the psychosocial needs of young children in the context of HIV/AIDS (2006) by Linda Richter, Geoff Foster and Lorraine Sherr Also see: Bernard van Leer Foundation
- Under the radar: Community safety nets for children affected by HIV/ AIDS in poor households in sub-Saharan Africa (2005) by Geoff Foster
- Where the heart is: Meeting the psychosocial needs of young children in the context of HIV/AIDS (2006) by Linda Richter, Geoff Foster and Lorraine Sherr Also see: Bernard van Leer Foundation
Empowers others
Geoff created an NGO called FACT-now completely led by Nationals-he remains on the board-to be a channel for resources and to advocate within Zimbabwe for HIV in children and in their mothers. He has also worked extensively with community based groups particularly those within the faith communities to bring care and prevention to the village level.
In particular he has worked with the CBO/NGO ‘Farming GOD’s Way’ to bring agricultural enterprises appropriate for orphans and the poor/ vulnerable to enable survival in the critical condition that Zimbabwe finds itself today.
Facilitates Church integration and participation
The church is the avenue that Dr. Foster sees as the primary strategy of delivering prevention and care to children in Africa-he has shown it can be done in the midst of complete government failure and actual policies that promote HIV spread and human degradation.
As noted above, Geoff with FACT, work primarily at the community level to bring programs for HIV prevention--and population survival in the absence of government/international programs.
No comments:
Post a Comment