Posts Tagged ‘Volunteers’
From Welcomed to Welcomer
At the end of April, World Relief will celebrate National Volunteer Appreciation Week, a time to recognize the impact and power of volunteers to “tackle society’s greatest challenges, build stronger communities and be a force that transforms the world.”
Last year, World Relief engaged 8,430 volunteers and 873 church partners in the U.S. to welcome and walk alongside their refugee and immigrant neighbors. Today, Todun Afolabi, World Relief’s U.S. Volunteer Engagement Manager, shares her own journey from welcomed to welcomer.
The Ministry of Welcoming
When I think about God’s heart for welcoming strangers, I think of Ruth and Naomi’s story in the Bible.
Naomi was the mother of Mahlon, Ruth’s first husband. Naomi’s family had traveled to Moab because of famine in Judah. While displaced from their homeland, Mahlon met and married Ruth, a Moabite. But when Mahlon and his father died, Ruth and Naomi returned to Judah as widows.
Naomi knew what it was like to be a stranger in a foreign land, and she was instrumental in helping Ruth resettle in Judah. She showed her how to secure food and, eventually, even connected her with her future husband, Boaz. Through Naomi’s care and advice, Ruth was able to establish a new home.
Needing a Naomi
For me, welcoming newcomers is ministry — and it’s personal.
When I was a stranger in a foreign land, there were many “Naomis” who spoke into my life and helped me adjust to my new home. I’ve learned that you can’t downplay the role of God in your life, especially in how he connects people and brings them together.
In 2011, my husband and I came to the U.S. from Nigeria as newlywed graduate students. As a couple, we couldn’t stay on campus, so we found a small apartment. At the time, we didn’t have enough money for furniture. We were just glad to have a roof over our heads.
We soon started attending a local church, and one of the pastors asked how we were adjusting and if we needed anything. I was hesitant to acknowledge how little we had and how far from home we felt, but we couldn’t hide our needs.
Later that week, I was amazed when the pastor called and asked if we were home. Within minutes, this truck drove up with chairs, a table, a dining room set — everything needed to make the apartment into a home for us.
That was the first of many ways the church surrounded us and helped us through our early years in the U.S. — and as a married couple! Our first car was donated to us by the church. They helped us cover rent expenses when money got a little too tight. When I got pregnant with our first child, they bought maternity and baby clothes and celebrated with us when our son was born.
I think God allowed me to experience the church’s welcome first-hand so I could understand how important it is. They showed us the heart of Christ. Now in my position at World Relief, that same heart motivates me to help others welcome newcomers the way I was welcomed.
Becoming a Naomi
When I joined World Relief as the Chicagoland Church and Volunteer Coordinator in Dupage-Aurora in 2018, it was an opportunity to become a Naomi for others.
I remember meeting a young woman who had recently arrived in the U.S. from Rwanda, and I was telling her my story — how I came and what had happened in my life since. She told me, “If you can do it, then I can,” and I said, “Yes! It’s possible. It’s really possible!”
It’s powerful to see that lightbulb go off, to see the encouragement and the hope that comes when someone realizes that they can do this — and that they don’t have to do it alone. That’s why I’m so passionate about helping the welcomers know and express the heart of God for strangers.
I wanted to keep bridging the gap between churches, volunteers and newcomers not just in Chicagoland, but across the country. In 2021, I transitioned to a role with World Relief’s Home Office as the U.S. Mobilization Specialist and now, I’m the U.S. Volunteer Engagement Manager.
In each of these roles, I’ve seen the mutual transformation that happens when churches and volunteers work together with their newcomer neighbors to welcome them — just like I was welcomed.
Welcome is for Everyone
At World Relief, we want to make room for everyone to be a part of welcoming newcomers, and I’m especially excited to invite those who have immigrant stories like me to volunteer with us. We can play an important role in being Naomis to our new neighbors, helping them adjust and adapt, just like we did.
It was a Naomi in my life who introduced me to volunteering. I started helping at a local food pantry and discovered that it was a good way to give back, but also an opportunity for me to build relationships and integrate. I realized it was a way for me, as an immigrant, to say, “This is my community now, too.”
I’ve learned that — whether you’re an immigrant, refugee, asylum seeker, a church partner or anyone else in the community — you have something to give. Even if it’s an hour a week or giving someone a ride to an appointment, those things really have an impact. I know because they had an impact on me!
Volunteering is where we get to bridge the gap between the heart of Christ and the needs of our community.
I look at my experience and see God’s hand in all of it — in the way I was welcomed and the way I now get to help others welcome. I’m grateful for this ministry God has given us at World Relief, and I’m grateful to have churches, volunteers, neighbors and people like you ministering together with me.
Do you want to create lasting change alongside passionate, mission-driven coworkers like Todun? World Relief is growing our team to meet the increased needs of our world, and we’re looking for people like you to join us.
Todun Afolabi joined World Relief in 2018 and currently serves as the US Volunteer Engagement Manager. With a background in law, she is passionate about humanitarian efforts and engaging communities in their stories of change.
What Can I do Now?
Empathy and Skill
“I’ve never been a refugee,” says Jenny Park, “but I feel like we all have moments where you feel like you don’t belong anywhere. For me, it was feeling emotionally displaced sometimes while growing up as an immigrant.”
Jenny joined World Relief as a volunteer tutor in the summer of 2020. Having immigrated to central Indiana from Korea with her family as a Kindergartener, she felt well-equipped to empathize and support other young immigrants, including refugees and asylum-seekers.
“My heart and the experiences I’ve had make me feel especially for young refugees,” she says. “They soak in and pick up the language much faster. They come over and have to be a leader of the family. As an immigrant I went through some of that as well.”
In order to help her family with finances, Jenny began tutoring other Korean immigrants while in high school, working with up to 12 students at one point. Developing this skill prepared her for her work as a volunteer.
“I always knew I wanted to do something to help people,” she says. “When I was little, I was like, ‘OK, I’ll do something to help when I become a doctor.’ But when I started volunteering with World Relief, I asked myself, ‘Well, what can I do now?’ Since I’ve been tutoring so many years already, it was like I kind of had this program inside of me – like how to deal with students and lead the class. That’s how I decided to start tutoring with World Relief.”
Getting Connected
Jenny received training and support from World Relief staff, who connected her with Medina, a young woman from East Africa who speaks four languages and dreams to be an English teacher. Facing barriers related to e-learning during COVID-19, Medina was able to meet consistently with Jenny for extra English practice and homework support through the school year. (Read Medina’s story here.)
“It was rewarding that I was able to make this relationship with Medina,” says Jenny. “It would have been almost impossible for us to meet if it wasn’t for this virtual world we’re all living in due to COVID…When you become a helper, it’s really easy to feel like it’s a weird, hierarchical position. But I feel like we’ve created a beautiful friendship...”
As a volunteer in World Relief’s Youth Program, you’ll be equipped to put your skills and life experience to use. You’ll have the opportunity to walk alongside young people like Medina as they lay a foundation for life in the United States. Most importantly, you’ll be invited to become not just a helper, but a friend.
Writing and interview by Jacob Mau
Love Disrupts: Rodney’s Story
“We are enamored with a gospel that comforts us, but we are rarely drawn to a gospel that disrupts us.”
– Eugene Cho, Thou Shall Not Be a Jerk
Rodney is a husband and a father. He goes to church and home-schools his kids. He loves God and loves others, but when it came to immigration, Rodney felt it might be best if the U.S. stopped allowing more people to come here.
“[I would] see the big headlines saying that an illegal alien broke into someone’s house,” he said, “or [I’d] hear something about MS13 without context. You get to the point where you start to put all people into the same category.”
Rodney was comfortable with his views on immigrants and refugees, that is, until God disrupted his life.
It was a perfectly ordinary Sunday when David Frazier, founder of World Relief Memphis’ Connect English Language Center, spoke at First Evangelical Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Rodney’s son, James, was in attendance, and he listened as David spoke about God’s heart for immigrants. After the service, James returned home and told his dad about David’s message and how it was causing him to question his own views on immigration. Rodney was intrigued so he invited David to come speak to his Sunday school class the following week.
“David really pulled back [the curtain] and showed me the facts about who refugees are and the processes in place in terms of vetting that they have to go through,” Rodney said.
After Sunday school, David suggested that Rodney enroll in an orientation program at World Relief Memphis to learn more.
During one of the first classes, Rodney’s instructor passed out index cards to everyone and asked them to make a list of things they would bring with them if they had to leave their homes. After they made their lists, the instructor told everyone to cross one thing off their lists. After a few more rounds, everyone was left with just two or three things they could bring with them.
“[I realized] this is what these refugees have had to do,” Rodney said. “They’ve had to give up things in order to [find] a better life or escape danger where they were. It just made me think, what would I have to give up?
“[The exercise] opened my eyes up to the fact that the people that are here are not trying to…stay in their own groups,” he continued. “They are trying to learn English, trying to assimilate and trying to get jobs. These aren’t people coming just to get something, they’re coming to learn. They’re coming to contribute.”
After finishing the classes, Rodney felt compelled to volunteer. He signed up to serve on Wednesday nights at the Connect Language Center’s Café English, helping ESL students practice their English by simply having conversations with them. At Café English, Rodney connected with refugees and other immigrants and began to feel a palpable sense of shared humanity with them.
A few weeks later, World Relief’s Mobilization Director, Karen Spencer, asked him if he’d be interested in filling the need for a Roadrunner — a volunteer driver who transports refugee and immigrant clients to and from ESL classes and other appointments they have. Without hesitation, Rodney said yes and began driving World Relief’s 15-passenger van three days a week. According to Rodney, this was simply the next step God had asked him to take, and spending time with clients in the car allowed him to foster deeper connections with them.
“One of the first groups of ladies I [drove to ESL class] came close to my 29th wedding anniversary,” Rodney recalled. “So I asked them to teach me how to say ‘I love you’ in Swahili, which is nakupenda. It was a way to [connect] things from my life [with] theirs.”
After that, Rodney said he and the group of women would say “nakupenda” to each other each time he dropped them off, a sign that a beautiful friendship was forming.
Rodney also got to know the Mto brothers on his drives. They talked to each other about their marriages and hobbies, and as they grew more comfortable with each other, one of the brothers approached Rodney and asked if he would help him learn how to drive.
Rodney admits that he was hesitant at first.
“There was the human instinct [in me] that said maybe this is going too far,” he said.
But he had been asking God to make him open to new opportunities. When he remembered that prayer he thought, “God, I asked you to make me open, so, okay.’”
He picked up some books from the Connect Language Center that would help the Mto brothers study for their permit test and began studying with them. Eventually, Rodney invited the brothers over for dinner after their study sessions and the men became close friends with both Rodney and his son. One night, Rodney even took the brothers out for pizza and to drive go-karts so they could safely practice driving!
Recently, Rodney said that Patrick, one of the brothers, texted him saying, “Big! I’m ready to drive!”
“My nickname is Big Rod,” Rodney laughed, “but he can’t remember the ‘Rod’ so he just calls me Big.”
At World Relief, we often talk about the opportunity for mutual transformation. Because of his willingness to take a leap of faith, Rodney experienced a significant mindset shift and has been blessed tremendously by being a source of friendly welcome for so many refugees and immigrants in Memphis.
“The thing that has gotten me more than anything else,” Rodney said, “is that there are missionaries that are called by God and go to a certain country. I’m being a missionary here. I’ve met people from Columbia, Venezuela, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I’ve learned these people’s names. I’ve gotten to talk to them, find out about their families, what they like to cook, etc. It’s something that I’ve really enjoyed and it’s ever-expanding.
“It is not so much that you have the ‘skills’ when you come to this job,” he continued. “It’s that you open yourself up to God and say, ‘Take everything that I am, and use me for your glory in this position.’ So, it’s all about being open to God… Be open, and let God use you to be who he created you to be.”
Rodney’s story is a refreshing reminder of what God can do when we open ourselves up to his transformative, often disruptive love. May we all be a little more like Rodney and courageously let that love in.
Nathan Spencer is a former Communications Intern for World Relief Memphis. A recent graduate of the University of Memphis, Nathan continues to volunteer for World Relief as a copywriter.
Love in Action: Volunteering with Outreach Groups in Haiti
This week, our World Relief U.S. offices have been celebrating Volunteer Appreciation Week by sharing stories and celebrations in honor of all the volunteers who serve with us across the United States. Today, we’re expanding that celebration by highlighting one of the many volunteers who serve with us globally.
Recently, World Relief Haiti’s Esther Pyram connected with Suzette over the phone. Suzette is a volunteer with World Relief Haiti’s Outreach Group Initiative (OGI). Suzette’s brother, Dieuquifait, is on staff with World Relief Haiti, and her mother and husband also serve as volunteers.
You can read Esther’s interview with Suzette below to find out what volunteering as an Outreach Group volunteer in Haiti is all about.
What is your name? Tell us about yourself and your family.
My name is Suzette Louis. I have been married to Prince Octavius since March 31, 2012, and God has given us three boys. It hasn’t always been easy for us because he was a widower with children, but God helped us to find balance in our marriage. We have been living in the town of Terre-Rouge for eight years, and we are members of the Gerizim Baptist Church.
Tell us a little more about yourself. What are your favorite foods to eat? What kind of music do you listen to?
I really like small ripe bananas with ground corn. I don’t have a favorite kind of music, but I do have a dream to learn dressmaking. I think it would allow me to help my husband with some of our household costs.
What is your favorite thing about where you live?
I love Terre-Rouge because it’s an agricultural area and I love the culture. We don’t have problems with livestock or farming and the people here are very supportive.
How did you get connected with World Relief and what made you decide to sign up as a volunteer?
Our church is part of one of World Relief’s Church Empowerment Zones (CEZs) in Haiti. This means we work together with a network of other churches in our region to meet the needs of our communities and share the Gospel at the same time.
When a church joins a CEZ, the pastor chooses someone to attend trainings with World Relief. This person then shares what they learned with their congregation. Illiteracy is a big problem in my community, but since I attended high school and can read and write, my pastor chose me to attend the training. Since then, I have been assigned more tasks and responsibilities as World Relief has brought more programs to our community.
World Relief is like a branch of my family. My husband works to recruit other churches to join our CEZ, my father and brother-in-law are both pastors and their congregations are part of our church network. My mother volunteers with World Relief’s outreach groups (just like me), and my brother is on staff with World Relief Haiti.
Suzette is pictured here on the left with her brother, Dieuquifait who works for World Relief, her mom and her husband — both of whom volunteer with World Relief.
Tell me more about what an Outreach Group is. What kinds of things do you do as an Outreach Group volunteer/team member?
Outreach Groups are teams of church volunteers that go into the community and visit families that are struggling and need help. I help train volunteers using the information I receive from World Relief. Those volunteers then provide their communities with lessons in things like marriage and family, finance, health and faith. I support these volunteers as they go out into the community and visit homes. Sometimes Outreach Group volunteers are nervous, but after training and encouragement, they take charge of the work and enjoy it. The changes we have seen in families that have received visits from our volunteers have been very encouraging.
Every week I also volunteer with World Relief’s Families For Life (FFL) program by providing married couples with lessons on God’s view for marriage, gender equality and how spouses can love and support one another.
What is the most challenging part about volunteering with World Relief?
In the beginning, volunteers were not welcomed by some families. But today there is a very good relationship between our volunteers and the families they visit. Families testify to the positive impact these visits had on them and keep on thanking us.
The other thing that was hard for some volunteers initially was that World Relief doesn’t pay them for this work. In Haiti, volunteers in other programs have often been paid for their work. It took some time for people to understand that what they are doing is a part of God’s call for the church and an act of ministry. In the beginning this was really hard for our volunteers because many households they visited were unkind and humiliated them a lot. But I thank God that this has changed and there is a lot of progress in the community now.
Can you tell us a memorable story about one of your home visits?
I helped my brother-in-law and his wife who were experiencing trouble. The couple was separated, my sister-in-law had abandoned the family home for several months and was preparing to move to Port-au-Prince. I started meeting with each of them separately for a time, but then I organized some sessions and insisted that both of them should be present together. I am always happy to say now their life is much better. The husband agreed to buy a piece of land in Thiotte and they went to live. They have built their house, the husband is working, they are doing very well now.
I also had a volunteer who refused to go for training because she wouldn’t receive any money and she is a very busy woman because of various activities she already had. So I went to her house and taught her the lessons and then I also accompanied her to visit the households. I am happy because she is now one of my best volunteers. Her name is Dieunise.
What do you dream of and hope for your community?
Terre-Rouge is a good area, but I would like to see the people in my community continue to grow in respect for one another as we work together. Sometimes people are not well organized or have a bad habit of not respecting the time or showing up for meetings. I would like them to be more conscious of that. I also want to see more development for Terre-Rouge. I pray to God to send us the support for the construction of a health center and a school for the area. The children are young and they have to walk for more than an hour to get to the pre-school in Marchasse.
How have you seen lives transformed through the lessons you share as a volunteer/team member?
As soon as World Relief started coming with the programs we saw a lot of change. Husbands began accompanying their wives to church. Thanks to the Outreach Groups, many new people have joined savings groups and are now members of our Families for Life program. They have learned to respect basic hygiene principles and many have built tippy taps — simple outdoor hand washing stations, which has become very important right now in fighting the spread of the COVID-19 virus. There is a lot of good change.
How has your life changed personally since becoming a volunteer/team member?
I have learned that if you only give advice and you never take it, you will struggle because people only will follow if you practice what you say, if your testimony is strong. I’ve also learned that there will always be things that will bother you, but being in a leadership position means you have to approach issues with tact and discretion. Volunteering has helped me to communicate better with my husband when we disagree about something. It has also helped me to practice the rules of hygiene and follow the advice we give to other families.
How do you spend your time when you’re not volunteering?
I live off the land. My husband is also a farmer, and I thank God our children can go to school, their school fees are paid and they have enough to eat. But apart from volunteering with World Relief, I also support other child health and agricultural programs in my community.
How can World Relief staff and volunteers around the world be praying for you?
Pray for my family to know God. Pray for a better financial situation in my family, because it is not always easy for us. My husband is getting old and can no longer work the land as he used to. Pray for my dream to learn dressmaking too. Pray for more love between the children, my community and my church. Pray for me, pray for everyone. I will do the same for you.
We are grateful for volunteers like Suzette who put love into action by serving others right within their own communities. Our mission to serve the most vulnerable would not be possible without Suzette and the thousands of other volunteers who serve with us across the globe.
Rachel Clair serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. With a background in creative writing and children’s ministry, she is passionate about helping people of all ages think creatively and love God with their hearts, souls and minds.
Recycling to Beauty: Un/Plastic Project
Ibu Aci is an Indonesian woman who is part of World Relief”s up-cycling program in Indonesia. This program, The Un/Plastic Project, teaches women to turn their plastic waste into beautiful products and income.Here in her own words, she shares how she gained confidence and pride in her work:
Fifty percent of Indonesia’s population lives on less than $2 per day. The Un/Plastic Project is a livelihood project that re-purposes plastic and paper into jewelry and household items.
World Relief volunteers teach young mothers skills such as beading and plastic yarn crocheting, but also important life skills. As products are sold, these young women are empowered with incomes that help support their families while surrounded by a faith community.
Check out World Relief’s Catalog of Hope to find products made by Ibu Aci and other gifts from around the world.
A trip in Burundi
by Michael Beeman
I have a card from my grandmother, on the front of which, it is written, “Grandson, life will take you to some faraway places.”, and on the inside, “Know that wherever you go, love goes with you”. It is true. During a trip to a Care Group outside of Gitega, southeast of Bujumbura, I witnessed the power of community and God’s love.
In the Kibuye Health District, World Relief manages a Child Survival Project. Through the Care Group Model, promoters train a group of volunteers on issues pertinent to Child Health, like malaria, diarrhea, and nutrition. These volunteers in turn visit approximately 10 households to share this information. The program is quite effective; malnutrition rates in children under 5 have plummeted to 8% from 36%.
With a few from WR offices, I recently journeyed from Gitega to the Care Group Meeting in neighboring Itaba commune. For one hour, we traversed a severely rutted road. Surrounded by hills of banana plants and coffee fields, we drove through heaps of mud and deep puddles of rain, only to reach narrower roads. Along these roads were men and women coming and going, students at the end of their day, and toddlers who would stop playing and stare at the large, white Land Cruiser slowly making its way over bumps and around bends.
With the help of Lucie, the Care Group supervisor, we eventually made it to the school grounds where the Care Group met. Once there, the welcome was naturally genial; greetings exchanged and a short song sung for an opening.
For this day’s meeting, the topic was nutrition.
They discussed the best practices to nourish children. A couple acted out two skits: one showed the preparation of a meal low in nutritious ingredients, while the second showed the proper preparation of a meal that meets babies’ nutritious needs. The subsequent discussion drew out the importance of a meal rich in micronutrients important for their babies. The participating parents identified the problems in the skit and the solutions, which they in turn would apply themselves and share with their neighbors. The discussion was successful; everyone actively participated and supported their peers in preparing the distribution of this knowledge.
Our departure hardly meant a disconnection. Rather, the exchange strengthened the connection, in the spirit of turikumwe: although separated, we are together. During the ride back home I thought of my Grandmother’s card. Here, in the Itaba commune, the strength of community and the love of God were present. In the beauty of the hills and the energy of the Care Group, the health and strength of families, World Relief, and myself were being restored.
Michael Beeman is a Program Research and Development Intern with World Relief in Burundi.
Photos by Marianne Bach
(1) A few of our World Relief health promoters in Burundi.
(2) Care groups are places of knowledge, learning, and relationship building.
(3) Mothers and children alike benefit through World Relief’s care group model.
Refugees in Indonesia: Ministry of Presence
By Mikey and Jeana Master, Church Engagement Coordinators for World Relief Indonesia
Stepping out the door of the detention center, into the courtyard shared by the asylees’ rooms, we were greeted by twenty faces waiting to see ours. Twenty men: all with different stories, all from broken places, all carrying disappointment. Literally trapped between the land they are fleeing and the land that could give them freedom, they spend their days waiting. We did not exchange handshakes or words for long, but it was a moving moment. It was moving because we cannot give them the freedom they desire. It was moving because many of them come from countries that are broken, in part, because of ours. It was moving because as they unapologetically stared at us, their eyes spoke louder than their words.
The detention centers here in Indonesia are holding people who were caught attempting to flee their country for Australia. They come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Nepal and more. Some left because they were being harassed by the Taliban, some are part of ethnic groups that leave them as refugees in their own country, and others fled the consequences of war. The majority tend to be young men, but there are also elderly men and families as well. Most commonly, fishermen promise these people a safe boat journey to Australia. The price for a spot is high, but for many, it’s worth the cost. However, these fishermen leave out an important detail: as soon as the boat nears Australia, the Australian Navy directs them to Indonesia where the asylum seekers will be held in legal limbo.
photo by Michael Masters
World Relief partners with IOM (International Organization for Migration) to serve these people as they wait for the appropriate paper work to begin a new life in Australia. Ours is a ministry of presence, teaching English, photography, arts and crafts.
For those we work with, the center in Bali is the first stop. This is a high security holding place from which they are transported to West Java, where they are given bigger living spaces and small freedoms. The length of time they spend there is uncertain; some people have been waiting for eight years. Currently, the center on Java has about 200 people, and 100 people stay here in Bali, although the numbers are always fluctuating.
For these refugees trapped in a place of waiting, disappointment and little hope, World Relief steps alongside to love, serve and listen to those made invisible behind walls – yet still remain incredibly close to Christ’s heart for the homeless and displaced.
The Masters serve with World Relief as volunteers. To learn more about World Relief Indonesia and the work happening there, click here.
World AIDS Day 2011
Kandal Province, Cambodia: A sea of matching white hats filled the tent in Kohtaom District early this morning. More than 200 secondary school students dominated the crowd, and were joined by government officials, religious leaders, police, medical personnel and NGO representatives. They had gathered together to demonstrate the same message printed clearly on their red-ribbon t-shirts: “We are united to protect ourselves from AIDS.”
Similar ceremonies are taking place across the globe this World AIDS Day. And there is much to celebrate. The combined response in the past decade by governments, donors, local organizations, international NGOs, and countless volunteers has resulted in new HIV infections falling, AIDS-related deaths decreasing, and treatment being made accessible to millions more individuals, particularly those in low- and middle-income countries.
Here in Cambodia, participants reflected on the country’s astounding accomplishments in addressing the epidemic. Thanks to prevention efforts over the last nine years, adult HIV prevalence rate has been reduced from 1.2% to 0.5%. Cambodia is also one of the few countries in the world that provides antiretroviral therapy to more than 80 percent of those eligible for it.
The presence at today’s event of more than 100 HIV-positive individuals, however, was a stark reminder that the fight is not over and that resources and responses cannot waver. There are more than 75,000 people living with HIV in Cambodia, and they remain vulnerable. A recent national report found that HIV-affected households experienced lower income and increased medical expenses, which negatively impacted their financial stability, food security and psychosocial wellbeing, as well as the status of women and education of children.
More than 30 million people have died worldwide from AIDS-related causes since the epidemic began. And this does not begin to account for the untold toll on families, communities, and countries as a whole.
Yet despite so much unnecessary loss in the world, or perhaps to honor it, the overarching theme of today’s event was hope.
The students, aged 15-18 years, sat attentively as World Relief staff presented a drama on the pressures of teenage life. The skit’s message was simple—to value life and make healthy choices about sex—but the issues it raised are relevant to these teens and complex to address: poverty, drug use, migration, “sugar daddies,” unplanned pregnancies and suicide.
World Relief meets with more than 7,000 youth throughout Cambodia on a weekly basis to discuss these issues. In Kohtaom District alone, World Relief works in 42 villages. Youth are provided a safe space to ask questions as they build life skills and learn about disease prevention, nutrition, and trafficking prevention. Evaluations have found that the program helps youth to increase their knowledge about AIDS, promote HIV testing, share health messages with friends, improve school attendance, avoid drug and alcohol abuse, and mentor orphans in their community.
At the AIDS Day event students were randomly chosen and asked questions by the district officer to test their AIDS knowledge. Despite giggles from their friends when selected, each would walk confidently to the front and respond correctly to questions like, “What should people living with AIDS do to take care of themselves?”, “Can people who look healthy be infected by HIV?”, and “What should you do if your relative or friend finds out they are HIV positive?”
This is a generation for whom AIDS is a reality. They have never known the world without it. But they are informed, they are supported, and they are capable of making choices that protect their future. AIDS may be the currently reality, but with continued investments in the response, this generation can be the one to lead the charge on making it a thing of the past.
Imagine what an AIDS Day celebration we will then have.
Joanna Mayhew, World Relief Asia HIV/AIDS Programs Advisor