Leading with One Voice
March 12, 2007 |
Back in 2004, I found myself in a remarkable place: sitting with a group of doctors in the government offices of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on an AIDS fact-finding trip. As a stay-at-home mom of three, this was not my usual stomping ground.
But several years ago Bono, the lead singer of the rock band U2, came through the Midwest on his Heart of America Tour. While it was Bono’s star power that drew me that night, it was the presentation on the ravishing effects of extreme poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS that changed my life.
After hearing that sobering message, I woke up from my suburban stupor of Target and Starbucks. I woke up to the reality that today 1 billion people live on less that a dollar a day. I woke up to the reality that I can make a difference, and I started educating myself and others.
I joined Bono’s ONE Campaign, a nonpartisan, nondenominational campaign of 2.4 million everyday people joining together to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty.
With the ONE Campaign I have had extraordinary experiences. As an ordinary, stay-at-home mom, who represents the heart of the movement, I was chosen to travel to both Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005 and to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2006 to attend the G8 Summit to urge world leaders to keep their promises to Africa and fully fund initiatives to fight global diseases like AIDS, TB, and malaria, increase international assistance, cancel debts, and make trade fair. I have spoken at a press conference, been in a public Service announcement with Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and Matt Damon, and been interviewed by CNN, NBC, and the Wall Street Journal.
I met Bono at a show for his fair-trade label, EDUN, in Chicago, where he also spoke. He said, “The National Rifle Association pays lobbyists big bucks to take their interests to Congress. We are the lobbyists for those who don’t have those kinds of means.” With ONE, I email and call the White House and my Congressmen. As a member of the ONE Campaign I have a voice.
I first realized this in a meeting with the Honduran vice minister of health back in 2004. The vice minister is responsible for distributing the money from the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and malaria, and I was able to ask some questions about the HIV/AIDS situation in Honduras. A true diplomat, the vice minister ended our meeting with smiles, handshakes, and goodbyes, addressing us as “The Delegation of the Lost Cause.”
Since this was the beginning of my journey into global AIDS advocacy and activism, I suppose I could’ve felt the sting of the insult. Instead, I left that meeting thinking, “I must be on to something.” The words of Scripture, “Be a voice for voiceless,” started to be a silent rhythm in my steps.
In 2005 I traveled to Kenya with my church. While in Kenya I visited an HIV/AIDS clinic, and I watched as a woman left with some life-saving medication in her hands. Her small son trailed behind. I turned to the nurse next to me and asked where the medication came from. As the nurse told me, I realized the ARVs (Anti-Retrovirals) came from the funding I, along with other Americans, had lobbied President Bush and Congress to support.
I still smile as I think about that Kenyan mother. It’s true that some extraordinary things have happened through my involvement with the ONE Campaign, but mostly I’m that ordinary stay-at-home mom who’s now a voice for the voiceless.
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on March 12, 2007
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Comments
There are so many desperate needs in the world out there. Heart rending needs. There were such needs when Jesus walked the earth. But whenever He healed the sick or fed the hungry, He always taught the Gospel at the same sitting. We must be careful to imitate his example and not ally ourselves to the popular crowd collectors who encourage immorality in the movies and songs they produce. What has light to do with darkness. The reason Africa is wasted by AIDS is because promiscuity is considered the right of the African male. And God hates that. AIDS help should be provided when the people receiving the aid understand that the God hates the behavior of their unchaste men. Women must have the courage to do their best to teach their sons that the way that fornication is sin.
Verna Jetter
Posted by: verna jetter on March 13, 2007
Oh my goodness, Verna. Do you really expect us to swallow that? There are so many victims in the AIDS crisis, and it's not all because of promiscuous men. It's because of rape, mothers passing on to their children, etc. Even these men themselves may be victims: victims of extreme poverty (in some cases, living on less than a dollar a day type-poverty).
The point is that there are lives that need to be saved. Let's leave the moral judgments about this crisis to God; only He has all the information. Let's leave our personal prejudices out of it.
Posted by: Allie on March 14, 2007
I loved reading this article. Its so amazing to see what women are doing in the midst of "ordinary" life of working and raising kids. To often we think doing great things is a fantasy beyond our reach, but if we really have a heart for something, there is a way to take action.
Posted by: Karen on March 14, 2007
I really appreciate the fact that you are compassionate for these people (and clearly passionate about the cause!) As a missionary in one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world, I also see these needs, and it is great that other women are taking action. But, living here, surrounded by these people and experiencing a lot of what they experience on a daily basis, I still believe that it is crucial to deal with the issue of the heart. I see lots of campaigns here come and go. I've even facilitated a couple of medical mission teams. I've seen these very needy nationals being truly touched by someone caring enough to come to their country and making a difference in the medical community. But that all comes and goes. When they are physically healed, who in the end gets the credit? What spiritual (and eternal!) condition are they left with? I am not trying to place judgment on anyone, but oh how I wish more and more "ordinary" women would have this kind of passion, and allow God to move them to do the kind of extraordinary things that will eternally improve their spiritual condition.
Posted by: Tiffany on March 15, 2007
Wow! What it is to be able to find your part in God's plan :) Bono has changed many lives, through his songs and through his activities on behalf of those who have no voice, and I congratulate you for being a part of God's plan to save the helpless.
It puzzles me that you would have more judgmental answers than not, but it is people like you who can help women here to realize that to save a life means that that is one life more than has a chance to hear the Gospel. Helping the needy is a huge part of God's heart.
Posted by: Sally on March 23, 2007
Verna,
Thank you for speaking to this devastating issue that is surrounded by so much silence. I very much appreciate your concern, and your willingness to speak out. However, i am with "Allie," (see above); i, too, went on an AIDS service trip several years ago, and male promiscuity is not the only cause of this pandemic. sexual behavior is only one part of the picture, and in many ways, is only a symptom of larger social issues. women teaching their sons responsible sexual behavior is certainly a good idea. but there are so many other factors at work--poverty, prejudice, stigma, silence, just to name a few--and if the AIDS crisis is to be addressed, we must examine every element without passing judgement. Judgement from the religious community is where the silence and stigma began in the first place.
Posted by: erin on March 26, 2007