Greetings in our Saviour's lovely name!
This past week we were at an international conference in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The situation in Zimbabwe is a bit precarious. Fuel is virtually non-existent. What little there is comes in very small increments. At one of the fuel stations we counted a queue of over 200 vehicles waiting to purchase fuel. From what we heard and observed, this is the same situation nationwide. Not only is fuel in short supply, but there are also shortages in flour, sugar, salt and almost every other staple food item. Please pray for our fellow believers in Zimbabwe.
While we were at the conference, we heard from a health official giving incredibly alarming statistics concerning the HIV/AIDS pandemic in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. 95% of all HIV/AIDS cases in the world are on the continent of Africa. 70% of the cases are found in sub-Saharan Africa. "HIV 1c" is a major form found in our region. According to this official people in Zambia are now living to the age of 33. A 15 year-old boy has a 70% chance of dying before the age of 40 of an AIDS related illness. The life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 36. HIV/AIDS affects every individual on this continent. With these alarming figures it is more than obvious that we are facing an incredible dilemma. It is for this reason that we spend so much of our time working with young people and children. The solution to the HIV/AIDS problem is behavioural change. That behavioural change is not a normal human attribute. It only comes about through the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. As we work with young people and children, we stress the need for them to be obedient to the Lord's command not to be involved in immorality. Unfortunately, most of the children and young people with whom we work do not have a strong role model so they "do as they see".
As an example of what we are trying to accomplish, Monday afternoon Sherry had an extended youth meeting concerning the music to which young people listen. The reason the meeting was extended was because the young people kept asking questions about the music that they, themselves, had brought to the meeting to be examined. Many of the songs are from American or Caribbean musicians. A lot of the terminology in the songs is not fully understood by young people here. One of the songs talked about "coke in a bowl". This seemed rather strange to the young people but they really didn't worry much about putting a soft drink in a dish. When Sherry explained that "the coke" was cocaine and the bowl was a device used to heat it, the young people were amazed: first that such an innocent sounding lyric would be so misunderstood, secondly that anyone would be brazen enough or bold enough to actually sing this in public. Yet, the young people had been listening to this propaganda for months without fully understanding what it meant. Other lyrics were included explicit acts of immorality including forced subjugation of women by men. Yet other lyrics openly talked about jealous women "snuffing" their unfaithful boyfriends. We had heard about such things from the United States, Canada and Europe but we had not realized that these particular messages had made it all the way to the middle of Africa.
As we read through the previous two paragraphs, we recognize the fact that we are up against an incredible assault on the young people of our town. While their parents go about their daily lives, the youth bury their friends and search for some sanity in their own lives. Please pray that we can be a light in the darkness.
In His Service,
Patrick and Sherry
Dr. Patrick and
Sherry Coleman
Luanshya, Zambia Africa