Runner Up
Swaziland Reformed Church
Name and location: Swaziland Reformed Church, Piet Retief, South Africa
Pastor: Dr. Arnau van Wyngaard
Date Founded: 1951
Total Church Membership: 1,000
Website: www.swazimission.co.za/English/aids.htm
Outstanding involvement and Effectiveness in Fight Against AIDS:
AIDS initiatives in Swaziland are not afterthoughts. With an overall HIV prevalence rate of 26 percent among men and women ages 15-49, they are part of the DNA in this country. The mission statement of the Swaziland Reformed Church underscores its uncompromising commitment to help those affected by the disease: “In a community devastated by poverty, sickness, broken families and death, we want to bring back true Christian hope, not only through our words, but also ... by reaching out in love to those in need, comforting and supporting them by all means available to us.”
What began in January of 2006 as a training program for 36 volunteers caring for people sick and dying of AIDS, has grown more than 10-fold to 307 volunteers. The services of Shiselweni Reformed Home-based Care for those affected by AIDS in the community of Dwaleni (“the place of the rock”) have been expanded, at the request of community leaders, into a comprehensive program, including feeding projects for orphans and a pre-school curriculum for children. Other elements of the program include:
- training volunteers since there are no funds for salaries whereby each volunteer identifies homesteads within walking distance where they knew people need help;
- establishing a project to care for the caregivers to prevent negative affects of working with the sick and dying;
- counseling of traumatized children;
- feeding orphans; and,
- providing clean water.
The church has expanded from training caregivers to a more broad-based response to AIDS ... pushing to extend their reach.
Impact on the Congregation:
The church's vision to become the hands and feet of Christ and its home-based care program has enabled sustained growth in the number of members and attenders. Newcomers comment that they previously did not attend any church because they could not find one that both preached the Gospel and lived out its faith in the world—especially in a community devastated by AIDS.
The program has led to the church's growth and leaders in the nearby community of Luvumisa have invited the church's leadership to plant a new church there. In fact, a member of the Swaziland parliament from Luvumisa has opened his home to the church leadership where services are now held every Sunday.
Pastor's Quote: “The story of Shiselweni Reformed Home-Based Care is a story of hope. For all of us involved in this work, it is an amazing experience to see how the Lord is guiding us into the worst-affected areas of Swaziland to bring true Christian hope to the people.”
Comments from the Judges: “Volunteers, volunteers, volunteers. This church recognized the disease of HIV for what it is and mobilized a small army to confront hopelessness and fear. Even in a dark hour when lack of resources had become acute, this church continued to mobilize volunteers delightfully disproportionate to the size of their congregation.”
