Zimbabwe bishop's haunting story defines the impact of HIV infection on his homeland

PHILADELPHIA (October 25, 2000)--For Bishop Ambrose Moyo visiting his parishioners in a Zimbabwe village one recent Sunday had grimly familiar circumstances. He related the impact of HIV infection on his troubled nation during a sermon preached this week to a hushed congregation at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

Moyo described how, upon arriving in a village with his wife, Iris, the couple chatted with a 4-year-old girl, asking "What have you had to eat today?"

"Nothing," the girl replied. It was past noon. "Where is your mother?" Iris asked. "She's not here," was the reply. (Elders of the congregation told Moyo the mother had died of AIDS.) "I live with my sister and my brothers." Thrust abruptly into parenthood, the little girl's sister, a teen-ager, had stopped going to school to care for the 4-year-old and three brothers. The five are among 1 million children orphaned in Zimbabwe because of the HIV "pandemic," Moyo said. The bishop added that some 3.5 million people in Zimbabwe are HIV positive. That's 25 percent of the population.

"In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe it is not uncommon for a congregation to have seven or eight families like that," Moyo says. The head of the household often becomes a sister or brother or perhaps a grandmother who finds herself in later years no longer with children of her own and changing diapers again.

"Sometimes I get to a congregation I'm visiting and the pastor or evangelist who would normally greet me will be off conducting a funeral," Moyo says. The bishop heads a church body of 100,000 Lutherans who belong to 100 congregations served by a total of 40 pastors. Some of the pastors serve 10 or more congregations, any one of which may have two to three funerals on any given day. The churches may be 25 miles apart with an exhausted pastor traveling from church to church on foot or by bicycle to conduct burial ceremonies. In one district of the Church Moyo said 38 percent of the women are afflicted with HIV.

Preaching on Mark 10: 35-45, a passage which describes the ambitions for glory of Jesus' disciples James and John, Moyo said Zimbabwe's plight provides a daily reminder that "God does not call us to be the Lord of other people or to a higher position. God calls us to serve others." He said in Zimbabwe, such a call beckons Christians "to minimize the suffering of the people of God. When any of us seeks to be at the right hand of God, we may not realize what we are asking for, what it may require of us to be a servant."

In an interview following the chapel service, Moyo said Zimbabwe faces a critical shortage of doctors and nurses to deal with the health crisis. Hence, church members and volunteers join family members in caring for the dying. A major victory may be finding pain medication, Moyo says, so that a victim may "die with dignity." A further challenge is educating the population to "change behaviors," he said. The Church preaches chastity and abstinence from sex except in the context of marriage, he said. "We are also concerned about removing the stigma of HIV," he said. "We point out that all people are sinners. No one is free of sin. Once someone has contracted HIV we teach that the person must become the object of love rather than condemnation." He said the government has imposed a 3 percent of income duty on workers in Zimbabwe in order to collect resources for the health care of persons with HIV. Some citizens resent the duty.

"In our daily ministry we strive to create a sense of hope in the people who are dying," Moyo says. "We tell parents they are leaving behind certain gifts for their children. We work hard to be a source of comfort to the dying and we tell them that people who are concerned will be here to look after their children. Our message is that Christ is risen and is the hope of the world, and so we work to give people that message of hope.

"I believe there is a purpose to what we are going through right now," Moyo says of the people he serves. "We may not understand that purpose right now, but we may come to understand it later."

Complicating Zimbabwe's already tragic health picture is the political and economic uncertainty confronting the nation, which gained its independence from the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith in the early 1980s. "The economy is deteriorating rapidly with a 60 percent rate of inflation," he said. "Unemployment is 50 percent, and with a shortage of foreign currency industries are closing rapidly." He predicted major unrest in the population in the months ahead unless constructive change comes quickly. A question is whether the government under President Robert Mugabe can find a way of handling so many critical difficulties despite having resources primarily afforded by agriculture and the mining of minerals, gold, chromium and asbestos. The Lutheran Church runs many village schools and four hospitals in the country, Moyo says. "The government pays teachers and the church bodies and district councils often carry out the administration of schools," he says. But with so much unemployment and inflation, students frequently see little purpose in their education, Moyo said.

Moyo has been visiting the U.S. with a Zimbabwe Church Choir touring congregations in New York state to educate churchgoers about Zimbabwe's difficulties. Moyo grew up in Mnene, Zimbabwe, and was inspired to become a pastor by his father, who served as a lay preacher. He received his Seminary education in South Africa and has served as bishop since the beginning of 1997.

What could North Americans do to assist the Church in dealing with the plight of its members? Financial gifts earmarked for Zimbabwe with checks made out to the Upstate New York Synod will be wired directly to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe. The Synod, located at 3049 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, NY 13224-1699, maintains a fund for such purposes, said Bishop Lee Miller. The proceeds will be used to support child care for orphans or to support the work of pastors in Zimbabwe "who work with low salaries and few resources," Moyo said.

Zimbabwe needs volunteers desperately too, Moyo said. Especially in demand are nurses and doctors. He said the Church dreams of opening a nursing school but currently lacks teachers. Nurses are needed to train volunteers in home care and hospice care, he said. And missionaries with appropriate skills are needed to provide counseling and support of pastors, who are in short supply. Persons interested in volunteering are urged to contact the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Global Mission. Interested volunteers are urged to forward a resume and expression of interest to Crystal Sumerlin, International Personnel, ELCA Division for Global Mission, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631-4185.