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1ER DECEMBRE 2009
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5th Pan-African Youth Alive/Education for Life Conference
From 29th November to 5th December I attended YA/EFL conference which took place at Multimedia University College (Mbagathi University Campus) in Nairobi, Kenya. The 5th Pan-African Conference had as its theme HIV/AIDS Prevention: Our Responsibility. 170 delegates from 10 African countries attended the conference and Fr Robert Vitillo, the head of Caritas Internationalis Delegation in Geneva, Fr Michael Czerny, SJ, the director of AJAN, Srs. Miriam Duggan, FMSA, the founder of Education for Life, Felicia Matola, FMSA, and Mr. Fred Olweny (EFL/Kenya) and Mr. Joseph Kanaaba (EFL/Uganda) were some of the outstanding speakers of the conference. All the speakers and the 170 delegates were unanimous in saying that HIV/AIDS is devastating Africa and the world and the preventing the spread of the pandemic was our responsibility. For instance, Fr Vitillo, who spoke about The Catholic Church’s Response to HIV/AIDS, pointed out three ways the Church responds to HIV/AIDS: as a teacher, servant and pastor.
Church’s teaching response to AIDS, Fr Vitillo said, is reflected in the numerous Episcopal Conferences’ pastoral letters and statements, training seminars for bishops and clergy, conferences for religious women and men and committed lay persons. It is also reflected in anti-AIDS clubs which many religious congregations helped to establish for youth in order to engage them in prevention and service and education for life. As servant, the Church-based health care is responsible for some 50% of all health service delivery in developing countries. The Church is present in rural areas and has been among the first in treating patients living with HIV/AIDS. Her programs include blood safety, in-patient and out-patient health care, mobile home-based care, orphan care and economic development. As a pastor, the Church is unique in its ability to offer pastoral care to those living – and dying – with or affected by HIV and AIDS. Moreover, even though some pastoral agents are hesitant to accept this responsibility – HIV/AIDS prevention and to offer pastoral care to those living with HIV/AIDS - Fr Vitillo remarked that Church representatives need to speak openly about HIV/AIDS from the pulpit and in other preaching. Furthermore, he said that they also need to develop prayer, liturgies, anointing services, memorial services, rituals and symbols that are meaningful.
During 6 days of the conference each of the 10 delegation felt the need of networking and coordinated work in HIV/AIDS prevention. For this reason, each delegation shared in the aula their best practice scenarios in the prevention against HIV/AIDS. The South African delegation was one of the first to share their practices. Education for Life-SA’s goal is to provide a response to social issues affecting the whole fabric of South African society. To achieve its goal, they provide formation through which people will be taken into: the pre-stage one, where everyone will be called to experience God’s unconditional love; stage two, to sustain the education for life process; and stage three, to envisage the role of local community. Sustaining the education for life process will consist of consolidating the message of EFL (abstinence, behaviour change, early formation of conscience, promoting life);giving a national voice to our identity as Catholic youth and cementing the EFL process by launching Youth Alive as a way of life to reinforce values.
Oral abstract presentations on different topics ranging from defining the underlying root causes of HIV/AIDS, relationship between drugs and HIV to the role of faith and culture in HIV prevention were very important parts of the conference. Not less important was the liturgical ceremony which took place on the 1st December to commemorate the World AIDS Day and the visitation to the booths. Cultural activities were very present at the conference and each country showcased what was typical in their country. With the exception of the outstanding performance from Mauritius, where all of us needed to learn, all the participants could easily join in the performance of other countries. The conference ended with the announcement that Tanzania will host the 6th Pan-African YA/EFL conference in 2011.
Avelino Chico, SJ
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