MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 03-04-2005

I read this article today, and I thought it underscored very well, "Why We Need Missionaries in Africa":

Up to 89 Million More AIDS Victims in Africa by 2025 – UN
Fri Mar 4, 2005 10:15 AM ET

By Tsegaye Tadesse

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A further 89 million people in Africa could be infected by the HIV virus by 2025 in the continent's biggest crisis since slavery, the United Nations said on Friday.

The worst case scenario, which projects a four-fold increase in deaths from the killer disease over 20 years, was one of three contained in a report by the UNAIDS agency.

"With the HIV/AIDS pandemic spreading across the continent, Africa is facing an unprecedented crisis and a challenge never before seen since the advent of slavery," said Peter Piot, executive director of the Geneva-based UNAIDS.

Even with strong control programs — at a cumulative cost of $200 billion — 46 million new infections are forecast in Africa during the period, according to the report, "AIDS in Africa: Three scenarios to 2025."

This best case scenario means 43 million new HIV infections could be averted between now and 2025, it said.

Some 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are already living with HIV/AIDS, 70 percent of the total number worldwide. The virus affects around 5 percent of the adult population and the epidemic has orphaned some 11 million children.

Piot urged countries in the world's poorest continent to take tough measures to tackle the huge problem, suggesting that help from rich countries would be limited.

"Many lives could be saved and entire economies could be profoundly changed through determined collective efforts of all African nations by 2025," Piot told a news conference.

"In the absence of sustained international response, African resourcefulness, indigenous solutions and resilience could enable the continent to turn the corner on HIV and AIDS."

Piot was speaking in Ethiopia, which is cited in the U.N. report as the country with the 16th highest rate of prevalence in the world, with some 5,000 people being infected every week.

A bright spot in the study related to African cities like Addis Ababa, Harare and Lusaka, where awareness and the "unprecedented use of condoms" had dramatically reduced the rate of HIV infection, Piot said.

However, he noted that the infection rates were getting worse in rural areas.

The report was based on projections mapped out over two years in collaboration with institutions including the African Union, African Development Bank, World Bank as well as Royal Dutch Shell which shared its expertise.

"The death toll will continue to rise, no matter what is done," the report's summary said.

"The scenarios suggest that, while the worst of the epidemic's impact is still to come, there is still a great deal that can be done to change the longer-term trajectory of the epidemic," it added.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva)

You've heard it before. Every missionary coming through your church heading to the African continent reiterates the facts – Africa is dying, by the tens of millions. Perhaps you've managed to tune that out. After all, that's over there, and not here, and it's not our problem. Perhaps. But for those of us who are called there, it is very much our problem. More than this, it's our life. You see, the Africans need more than just condoms (minimal usefulness), or advanced and terribly expensive pharmaceuticals (moderate usefulness). What they need is a Savior. What they need is a voice crying in the wilderness and calling men and women everywhere to repent, to lay aside their wickedness before they die by their own hand. Sin, not poverty, not lack of foreign aid, but sin is the source of their problem. We, the missionaries, can change that. We can evangelize. We can plant churches. We can train preachers. Then, through the preaching of the word, we can deliver generations of Africans from a merciless pandemic that has already sent millions to hell. By this report, an entire generation faces the sentence of death. Without preachers, what do you suppose is their eternal fate? It is self-evident.

"And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." Ezekiel 22:30 Who will stand for Africa? Who will hear the cry of the dying and enter the fray in their defense? Must the answer be, as it is too often, echoing down since Ezekiel's day – NONE? I made up my mind a long time ago that I wanted to be one of God's men, rather than join the ranks of the faceless None. How about you?

This is not tear-jerker, emotional, manipulative propaganda. It is only the cruel truth. AIDS marches on in Africa. It claims all in its path, and without our intervention, it's pale horse will continue it's gallop across Africa, peopling Hell by the millions. We must stand in the gap for them. We must build up the hedge. Otherwise, we face the justice of a God who loves Africans, and will require their blood of us if we fail to act.

I have worked very hard for the past six months, making meetings and attending meetings, and thus far have little to show for it. Our support has been unchanged since December, which is about $600 a month. I wonder to myself "Am I doing something wrong? Have I failed to express the need in Uganda well? Is there something wrong with me, that none will get behind us?" I just don't know. As it stands, I wonder how long it has to take for us to raise the support we need to go to the field in Uganda, Africa, and stay there, and succeed in our labors. I wonder how many will die before we get there, and what that will mean for us at the Judgement Seat of Christ.

Yeah, I know. It's impolitic for missionaries to beg, or show any emotion other than giddy joy, but I don't know what else to do other than to say what must be said – I need your help. If none give it, then how can I go? I have a wife, and soon, five children. Gas prices are on the rise, and our tiny, rickety van may strike us with massive repair bills at any time. We need enough monthly support in order to afford health insurance, so my wife can start visiting a doctor in lieu of the birth of our fifth child in September. She has had no pre-natal care, because we don't have the money. There are other bills that still have to be paid, and all this, while on the road, travelling to churches, and trying to find some who will help us, so we can stand in the gap together for Uganda. I'm going to take a big risk here, and just level with you. I've struggled with discouragement the past few days (since our latest minuscule support check arrived), and how to put this into words without sounding bitter, or begging. I am driven by a great burden, an endless need to get to my field, but with the consequent frustration of not being able to get there, and with no support apparently to do so. Will you help us?

Pray for me, your intrepid missionary to Uganda. If you can't support us financially, then please pray that God will raise up churches who will, and soon, because frankly, we can't live on $600 on month, not and do the necessary and important work of deputation. Pray that I will be able to persevere, and not be discouraged. Pray that it won't have to take more than a couple years to get to the field, because I don't want to still be on deputation five years from now. Pray for my beloved Uganda, and the dear missionaries who are already there, laying their lives on the line to help them, in the short-term, and for eternity.

Anyway, thanks for letting me say all that. I'm not angry. I'm not bitter. I'm still confident that God will provide. I just felt like if I didn't tell folks what was on my heart, I would bust. I love y'all, and I'm so very grateful for all the support, and prayers, and kindnesses that have been shown me and my family thus far. God will get it done, and I await His provision with joyful expectation.