COMMENTARY: Working for Each Other, and Working for God

c. 2007 Religion News Service LUSAKA, Zambia _ To many Americans, foreign aid is primarily a handout they see in televised images of disaster response or food distribution to refugees. What they see is a benevolent _ but often one-dimensional _ view of how the U.S. responds to international needs. But in Zambia, one of […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

LUSAKA, Zambia _ To many Americans, foreign aid is primarily a handout they see in televised images of disaster response or food distribution to refugees. What they see is a benevolent _ but often one-dimensional _ view of how the U.S. responds to international needs.

But in Zambia, one of the largest American investments in the fight against HIV/AIDS is carried out primarily by Zambian volunteers who are trained and equipped by money from USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development) and resources from groups like Africare, Catholic Relief Services, CARE, the Salvation Army and World Vision.


So far, more than 12,000 Zambians have been trained to do home-based health care, a critical intervention in a country where the fragile health care system cannot begin to meet the needs of the million people infected with the disease. Nearly 90 percent of Zambians live on less than $2 a day.

To the Zambian volunteers, the goal of their work is clear: helping the poorest and most fragile in their communities survive.

In a country where the HIV infection rate is as high as 25 percent in urban areas, that often means children orphaned by AIDS, widows left to care for grandchildren, and people living with HIV/AIDS or the other diseases that attack fragile immune systems.

The group calls itself “God Our Help” and gathers at the Living Word Church in a community called Kalikiliki. The volunteers are both Christian and Muslim, talking often in similar terms about how God inspires their work. Says Grace Mutonga, a Christian, “I am inspired by the words of the Bible in Hebrews 13 to take other people’s problems as my own. I try to remember what I would want if it was me who was sick.”

Joachim Musonda emphasizes that not all in the group are Christian and that Muslims, too, “get knowledge from God and are inspired by faith.” Others nod their heads, including the leader of the group, Mrs. Lister Chinangu, a nurse and wife of the pastor of the Living Word Church.

“We work together as Christians and Muslims because we all care about the needs of our people,” Mrs. Chinangu says. “We help anyone who is suffering.”

What is most remarkable is that the volunteers themselves are mostly poor and often are caring for their own needs. One volunteer named Lydia tells me that she is taking antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS, and uses her own experience to encourage others to get tested so they can get treatment.


Most of the volunteers work other jobs to earn enough to support their families. In this largely agrarian culture, that often means backbreaking work in the field; one woman tells me she works with a small hammer to break large boulders into gravel.

The volunteers have trained for weeks in order to administer basic health care, to recognize the signs of malnutrition, and to understand how best to help those who are suffering. Their training is paid for by a grant from the U.S. government’s fund for fighting global HIV/AIDS and administered by RAPIDS, the consortium of six nonprofit organizations working with dozens of Zambian community groups.

In addition to their training, the volunteers receive a T-shirt that proclaims them a “Home Based Care Provider” and a small box packed with supplies. In the boxes are rubber gloves, a water purification kit, a flashlight, salve, a washcloth, and tools to help them tidy up a house or provide basic care to a person who is ill.

It is, admittedly, a meager offering by medical standards. But when I go on visits with the volunteers, it’s clear that the ability to listen to concerns, identify needs and simply tidy the house or wash a fevered face are valued interventions. Some volunteers return with emergency food or transportation to help someone get to a clinic. Those who are alone or ill in a village know that they will receive a regular visit, a simple assurance that offers great comfort.

The caregiver kits are restocked with supplies purchased through the grant, supplied by donations or sent by corporations. Bruce Wilkinson, an American who heads the RAPIDS program, calls it a “true global partnership, and I think most Americans would be proud to see how their aid dollars are more than doubled by the other partners.”

Volunteer Nelia Zulu has a slightly different perspective.

“The people of Zambia have a strong volunteer ethic. We want to support one another but we just need some help.” As she and the other volunteers walk miles down dirt roads, it is clear they are proud of their work and are grateful for whatever help they get. But nothing about the program is a handout.


“We are,” she said, “working for God.”

(Dale Hanson Bourke is a consultant to humanitarian organizations and the author of “The Skeptics Guide to the Global AIDS Crisis.”)

KRE/PH END BOURKE

To obtain a photo of this columnist, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!