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By Linda Bales

Bertha, a Guatemalan woman, shared a story that broke my heart. I met her at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto last August. She was with other Central American women talking about their experiences as women with AIDS in a land that shuns them.

'The church can cause great damage to those struggling with AIDS,' she said. She quietly spoke about a single mom in El Salvador who was infected with AIDS and went to the church for comfort. Upon hearing of her situation, the priest broadcast to the entire community to 'beware' of this woman. Consequently, the woman left the village.

Maria Rosa, also from Guatemala, contracted AIDS 18 years ago and is now working for a non-governmental organization that assists women with AIDS. She works in the rural areas with women, many of whom experience domestic violence.

Rosa explained that many women in Central America are taught to 'obey' men and not raise issues related to the rights of women. If they do, they risk abuse. The church promotes that belief by encouraging women to play a subservient role believing woman?s work is never as good as a man?s.

Haitian women with AIDS in the Dominican Republic live in isolated communities, away from the mainstream of life. Argentinean Mabel Blanco reported that evangelical groups provide services for the women in the Dominican Republic and are making a contribution, but fall short when it comes to prevention.

Sex education is not imparted to children, marital rape is not acknowledged as a legitimate problem and basic education about AIDS is absent. Some women turn to the sex trade for survival, a choice resulting in further isolation and discrimination from communities.

All of these Central American women talked about the layers of stigma experienced by some women, particularly indigenous women with AIDS who are surviving through the sex trade. Some choose suicide.

The voices above are a sampling of what women around the world with AIDS face. There are also the children and men who confront different circumstances equally devastating.

The bottom line is that 40 million people on the earth have the HIV virus and 8,000 die every day. The pandemic has resulted in 14 million children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

In some countries in Africa, HIV/AIDS affects between 25 to 35 per cent of the adult population, and 5 million people (14,000 per day) including 600,000 children, are infected each year.

AIDS has become the fourth leading cause of death in the world. Ninety-five per cent of all HIV positive persons live in the developing countries but only 5 per cent get treated. This is the tragedy facing the world.

In the United States, even though many people with AIDS have access to anti-retroviral drugs, statistics are spiking in the African-American and Latino communities, especially among women.

Stigmatizing those with AIDS in the United States is not unlike the situations in developing nations. Denial, ignorance, lack of education and homophobia are factors that result in needless infections and deaths.

Where is The United Methodist Church in this struggle? United Methodist churches in Sub-Saharan Africa are in the middle of this pandemic, crying out for assistance and having daily funerals for loved ones struck down by the virus. Some churches and annual conferences in the U.S. are claiming HIV and AIDS as a key issue and are moving forward with ambitious programs. But, in too many cases, the church remains silent and apathetic.

What?s needed?
? Bold leadership by visionaries who can mobilize people around a dream for a better world.
? Comprehensive sex education taught in local churches as a prevention effort for young people.
? Caring circles to relieve those who are affected and infected by the virus.
? Fund-raisers to support the newly created UMC Global AIDS Fund.

First and foremost, each church is called to claim and create an environment of 'welcome' ? hospitality at its best ? to those who are HIV positive. Caring for our neighbors near and far are historical mandates for United Methodists. Jesus, the Christ, compels us to do nothing less, with no exceptions.

How can the church wake up and become the transforming body it?s called to be?

The HOPE Fund in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference is one exciting sign of hope to this awakening.

Money contributed to this important funding vehicle will help support AIDS projects in the conference and abroad. The creation of the fund illustrates the conviction of the people in this conference to give voice to the voiceless, food to the hungry and new life for those who suffer.

Each church is strongly urged to promote this new effort for the welfare of neighbors near and far. By contributing, it is one step toward transformation ? a claim for life as opposed to death. Alleluia!