petertatendam

Working as an HIV/AIDS Field Officer with Bwafwano Care Providers over the past four months has been a journey filled with a lot of insightful experiences. One such insightful experience was on the occasion of a candlelight service held on the evening of the 31st of November. We were part of a co-organization by the Kitwe District AIDS Task Force (DATF). DATF is a unity of organizations that engage and lead in HIV/AIDS and related work in a district.

The candlelight service is a way for community groups to come together to reflect, pray together, or show support for each other. In relation to HIV/AIDS ,the District AIDS Task Force organized the candlelight service in order to:

– Help communities respectfully remember others who died as a result of HIV/AIDS and HIV-related illness.

– Help communities remember and pray for victims of Gender Based Violence as World Aids Day and 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence come around at the same time.

– Mark the significant progress our communities have made in HIV/AIDS prevention and elimination.

– To raise awareness for #HIVprevention and elimination

– To organize communities to pray for People Living with HIV/AIDS, people affected by HIV/AIDS, and encourage behavior change in communities against risky behaviors that drive the spread of HIV and Gender-based violence.

On this specific candle light service the atmosphere was that of hope and so was the message.

The singing echoed the determination that the Kitwe community and Zambia at-large has had and will continue to have in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The prayers showed the clarity of purpose with which various stakeholders came together to join hands and present their heart’s desire and petition before God.

And as we lit the candles first with the Mayor, District Commissioner, Clergy, and then the congregation, all of us sharing our candle light and lighting up our candles one for the other; it symbolized solidarity.

It symbolized that in this fight for HIV prevention and elimination of HIV/AIDS we will fight together regardless of age, gender, color, class, or creed – leaving no one behind.

As I participated in that candlelight service both as an HIV/AIDS Field Officer and a missionary, I understood that communities have the power to desire for and act for transformation. I understood that if communities put their hearts, minds, resources, and knowledge together, transformation is possible.

In this candle light service like on many other occasions, I have seen men and women, old and young, Christians and Muslims come together for a cause. I have come to realize that this is God’s desire for humanity and all creation to see itself as one. As proclaimed in Galatians 3 : 28 ESV that, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The challenges and weaknesses of society can be weathered if we understand that at the center and core of our being and creation is God’s love.When we love God and one another and all of creation, we look out for each other, we care for each other.

Communities can be proactive and not wait for solutions to the problems they face to come from other sources. To build community resilience and strength, we need to tap into what we can do for ourselves, for others, and for creation. We need to be able to answer this question – What are our good works?

These good works are when we extend grace to ourselves, others, and creation. These good works are social, economic, and environmental justice and advocacy. For those entrusted with positions of power and leadership over our communities, these good works are stewardship, accountability, good governance, etc.

Now I understand more the words attributed to John Wesley; “Do no harm, Do good and Attend to all the ordinances of God/Stay in love with God”

Peter Tatenda Muzarakuza

Bwafwano Care Providers

Zambia

GMF International, Class of 2016-2018

#3022209

“I am in mission to witness to what God has done and is doing, and to learn from what God is doing…”

It was always too easy for me to see weakness and need when I encountered differently abled, marginalized peoples and communities for the first time. In most of these first encounters, I saw people, places, and situations in need of God’s help and my help. I saw brokenness, despair, emptiness, sorrow, hurt, and pain. I was always ready and up to the task to offer my ‘help.’ I was ready to be the ‘new miracle’ needed.

However, when I got to Zambia to work with Bwafwano Care Providers, it was an overwhelmingly different case. On my first day at work, I met wonderful young men and women who are mentally challenged. They were in class being tutored to stand in front of a group of people and introduce themselves. They took turns introducing themselves with joy and gladness in their hearts. Some were shy, did not say much and stammered through their sentences; however, they did not laugh at each other but laughed together. Some stopped midway through sentences and they tried to complete these sentences for each other. Others ended up saying much more than was ‘expected’ and they were just equally happy to hear it all. And in this classroom, which I began to see as a sacred space from that moment onward, I saw God already at work. I saw strength instead of weakness. I saw joy and gladness. I saw comfort instead of pain. And the strength, joy, gladness, and comfort I saw and felt was not imagined. It was real.

Being in that classroom with my brothers and sisters – seeing the good work that is being done at Bwafwano Care Providers in this sacred space – I saw young men and women blessed with such ease, joy, and ability. I then realized that this was a moment of transformation in how I see others. In seeing other people as weak or unable or in despair and in need, I actually marginalized myself. How so? If all I saw when I met differently able or marginalized people was pain and despair, I could not partake in their joys and hopes. If all I saw was weakness and need, I could not partake of their life stories and experiences that could equally strengthen me and add a lot to my being.

This made me understand that myself, and maybe many others, we are the weak ones for choosing to see marginalized and differently able people as weak. Even the system around us – for instance our education system – may be weak in that it is not always up to the challenge to empower the mentally challenged to explore and offer their strength and abilities. Yes indeed! It is such a wonderful truth to know, I am not taking God anywhere, God is already there way before I get there! Yes indeed! God has been here before me and even when I leave after two years, I will not leave with God. God will remain!