Good News at AIDS Awareness Rally
December 27, 2007
The skit the missionaries performed helped open people’s eyes to the dangers of AIDS—and the suffering that the social stigma puts on AIDS patients.
|
Local village and political leaders and police joined Gospel for Asia missionaries who were holding AIDS awareness rallies during World AIDS Day in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, India. Hundreds of people came to see the missionaries give a message and perform skits about AIDS awareness. As part of the outreach, more than 38,000 specially designed Gospel tracts were also handed out during the day.
"The program was discussed, prayed for, planned and executed for the glory of the Lord and for the expansion of His kingdom," a GFA correspondent wrote. The missionaries thank the Lord that they were able to have such an impact in India—the country with the world's second-highest AIDS population.
With the rate of HIV infection exploding in the last several years, India is home to one in seven people with AIDS, according to the BBC. Many wives contract AIDS from their husbands who visit brothels, and as a result, hundreds of children are born with the virus.
Because the topic is socially unacceptable and rarely talked about, many people are left uninformed about the disease that is ravaging their country. The AIDS awareness rally was designed to change that. GFA missionaries borrowed posters, pamphlets and banners from a government office, as well as printing their own Gospel tracts starting with information about the disease.
Local political leaders as well as police came out to show their support for the missionaries' efforts.The GFA Andhra Pradesh team began with a skit and a message in one village where more than 400 people gathered to listen. They moved on to another village to give the same presentation, and 500 people came to hear them. Local political leaders as well as police came out to show their support for the missionaries' efforts. At the end, the officials even provided tea and snacks for the GFA team.
In the southern state of Kerala, each presentation started with a song about the dangers of AIDS and a skit telling the story of a young man who contracts the disease.
"The skit had a strong appeal to this society that tries to escape from the real problem by ostracizing those who have the disease," the correspondent wrote. The skit was followed by a message, and 3,000 tracts were distributed to the audience. At the end of the day, over 38,000 Gospel tracts were handed out in both states.
"The missionaries are convinced that their efforts will contribute to humanity's fight against AIDS," wrote our correspondent. "And in doing so, they know they serve the living God who came to give life and life in abundance to a needy world."
