Handover AIDS Award to Fikelela
Fikelela won the Cordaid award for Faith Based Leadership in HIV/AIDS. Fikelela means reach out and is the name of the HIV /AIDS outreach programme of the Anglican Church in Cape Town, South Africa. Fikelela was founded in 2000 with the vision to provide an active Christian response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa. Fikelela aims to mobilise the Anglican community to make a sustained positive contribution to the reduction of new HIV infections and to drive HIV/AIDS education and care in partnership with others. Cordaid supports Fikelela in its Agents of Change program, a peer education intervention aimed at educating the youth of the churches. The AIDS award was won for the other main component of Fikelela's program 'HIV/AIDS friendly churches’. From the understanding that 'We can't change the world, but it is possible to make a world of difference in the life of one, or two or ten', Fikelela is working to mobilise churches in the Diocese of Cape Town. So far out of the 42 churches, 34 churches have task teams or caring groups. Many churches around the diocese have a sign that says 'Our church is HIV/AIDS friendly'. What does this mean in practice? Bishop Garth of the diocese states that it should not just be that the church states it is HIV/AIDS friendly, but that all people in the church are involved hands-on in practical activities to support those affected and infected. HIV/AIDS friendly does not only mean talking about HIV/AIDS during sermons, nor does it mean that the responsibility of action is put solely on the task teams but that the whole church is mobilised. This is translated into practice through a wide variety of activities, each church responding in a way that is appropriate for their community. Activities range from making food parcels, offering home based care and spiritual support, linking up with the HIV ward in a children's hospital to offer support, visiting patients in a hospice and providing a home for orphaned children and much more. Fikelela works as an initiator and broker by providing technical support and offering suggestions for practical activities a parish can undertake. Fikelela was very pleased to receive the award as it will enable them to support around 25 parishes in their specific activities. Parishes are invited to come up with a proposal for a specific activity or resource to utilize the award money in line with the specific needs of the parish. Each parish can request for around 500 Euro, thus enabling 28 parishes to benefit from the award. Fikelela will give an update on the utilization of the funding.
