Aids awareness for teenagers
ASSOPADEM is a rural association for social development in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nearly 100 volunteers have received training to help tell others about the spread of HIV/AIDS.
These volunteers travel around from village to village to train, inform and make the local people aware. In some people this produced a new under-standing but, in others, strong rejection. Some of the trainers were threatened, attacked or beaten by men because local girls now no longer wish to continue with unsafe sexual practices.
We hope to help to expand the training further so that we can limit the spread of HIV/AIDS here.
Edmond Mahuta, ASSOPADEM, BP 15060, Kinshasa 1, DRC. E-mail: assopadem@yahoo.fr
Encouraging prisoners
I lead a group of Christians working to reduce crime. Our city used to have many problems with crime. People feared to go out wearing or carrying anything of value, such as watches, jewellery, wallets or cash. Armed robbers were constantly breaking into houses; people were being mugged at gunpoint in the street.
Our group prayed about the situation and felt led to begin visiting prisoners in jail. We began by meeting prisoners in their cells. Then we met, five times a week, in the prison yard for Bible teaching. Many prisoners became disciples and we baptised them in their cells. The prisoners formed a Christian group to encourage them to maintain their faith. Nearly 100 of those who have been released from jail have joined local churches.
We work to share information in the cells about HIV/AIDS. Released believers who are homeless are helped with cheap accommodation. Some visit our offices asking for Christian training.
Crime in our city, which we believe was partly caused by lack of knowledge of Jesus, has now been reduced. We began with 70 prisoners, and today work with 10,000 across three provinces. God has given us much encouragement!
Pastor Casquinha Domingos Sardinha Casquinha, Associação Irmãos do Bom Pastor, Caixa Postal No. 3, Nampula, Mozambique. E-mail: domingosardinha@hotmail.com
Women’s conference
At the end of 2002 the first conference of evangelical women took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, organised by the Deborah Movement. This was inspired by Femmes 2000 in France. Our goals are prayer and evangelism.
During the five days of the conference, over 600 women from Chad, Togo, the Ivory Coast, Guinea, France, the USA and Burkina Faso received teaching on subjects such as: the power of prayer, widowhood, celibacy, bringing up children, non-Christian husbands, and coping with AIDS.
Public meetings were held in the evenings. Participants were uplifted by the conference and, as one pastor put it, ‘returned to their local churches with a new fire for the Lord’.
Many church leaders (male) from different denominations were invited. Many women were also there who are leaders either in their churches or in government bodies.
We are now planning leadership training for women in 2003.
Joanna Ilboudo, Contact Editions, 04 BP 8463, Ouagadougou 04, Burkina Faso
Controlling fleas
In Footsteps 53 there was a letter concerning the problem of fleas in Madagascar.
Many people in South Asia have found that the dried leaves of vetiver grass spread on the floor under sleeping mats give total protection against bed bugs. This treatment may well prove equally effective against fleas. The leaves could be scattered in the living area as a floor covering to protect other parts of the house. There has been a widespread national programme to encourage the use of vetiver for soil conservation in Madagascar. This should make it easy to find either planting material or leaves to try out the effectiveness of this treatment.
Stephen Carr, Private Bag 5, Zomba, Malawi
Medicinal plants
I am a traditional Quechua healer from Cochabamba, Bolivia and the director of an organisation called Kuska-Cochabamba. My knowledge of traditional medicine was learned from family traditions going back four generations and I worked in this area for 35 years. I have written a small book called Fifty medicinal plants traditionally used in Bolivia.
We hope our organisation could serve as a link or bridge between traditional medicine and modern medicine. We are currently exploring plans to build a centre for traditional medicine. Details of this and our work are on our website (in Spanish only).
I would welcome contact with other readers with similar interests.
Carlos Prado Mendoza, Director of Kuska-Cochabamba, Casilla Postal 3044, Cochabamba, Bolivia. E-mail: capramen@hotmail.com Website: www.micromega.org/kuska/
Communication through visual storytelling
A three day workshop on this subject will be held in Nagpur and Varanasi, India, in October 2003. It will provide training in the use and production of Christian comics as an excellent way of sharing information. The workshop costs 1,000 Rupees. More information from:
Asian Sahyogi Sanstha India, 42 Jail Rd, Gita Vatika, Gorakhpur, UP 273 006, India. E-mail: rainbow4us@satyam.net.in