Plenary, 29 Nov 2006

Meeting date: Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Official Report 440KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is Pastor Patricia Sawo, who is the east African co-ordinator of the African network of religious leaders living with or personally affected by HIV/AIDS.

Good afternoon. My theme for time for reflection is that each and every one of us can make a difference with our lives.

The New Testament tells us:

"It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.

Each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."

To many of us, it is obvious that we should help others, but in today's world many people ask, "Why?" Allow me to share with you my personal testimony of how I have been helped by others to be who I am today.

Peter Drucker said:

"knowledge is a very special type of resource: it is borderless, and can travel even more effortlessly than money; it bestows upward mobility, because it is available to anyone who can access formal education; and it cannot be inherited or bequeathed. Yet knowledge alone is not enough; everyone can acquire it, but not everyone can use it to win."

Most of us believe that HIV/AIDS is a song that has been sung for long enough. Everybody should have knowledge about it and people need only to change. I started knowing about HIV and AIDS in 1985 in Kenya, yet it meant little to me. It was a curse and punishment from God—something from outside that was not meant for people in the church. I preached and quoted the Bible out of context and I had a negative attitude.

Then, in 1999, I became very sick. I boldly took an HIV antibody test, believing that I needed only to fast and pray for seven days and I would test negative, but that did not happen. I suffered self-stigma and societal stigma. I lost everything and every friend and I almost died, but with the help of Canon Gideon Byamugisha, who was the first African minister to live openly with HIV, hope was restored to me in 2002. As I stand here today, I am a witness that without help from others I would not be alive and my family would not be the same. I would not be winning the battle against HIV and AIDS.

The Bible tells us:

"humanly speaking it is impossible. But with God everything is possible".

Everything is impossible until someone takes the first step. As we approach world AIDS day, I want to challenge each and every one of us—you and me. You can make a difference to someone's life with just a small action. Your efforts can help to prevent a child from being infected; you can postpone one death from AIDS by availing people of antiretrovirals or nutrition; you can help orphans to have a better quality of life, both in Africa and here in Scotland.

It has been a great privilege to share with you this afternoon and I thank you. [Applause.]