To mark World Aids Day 2006 (Friday 1 December), The Salvation Army announces a remarkable project which began earlier this year and will come to fruition next May with the publication of a ground-breaking book.
Writer and broadcaster Rhidian Brook explains: 'In January of this year I, my wife and our two small children gave up our comfortable and secure family life in London and took off on a nine-month journey through the Aids pandemic in Africa, India, China and the USA. We were hosted by The Salvation Army and lived in communities in 11 countries. Our mission: to observe close-up and first hand the effect HIV/Aids is having on communities around the world and to bear witness to The Salvation Army's work in helping these communities respond to the problem.
'My book More Than Eyes Can See (to be published in London by Marion Boyars in May 2007) is an account of that journey. Following a trail of devastation through communities still shattered and being broken by this disease - truck-stop sex workers in Kenya, victims of rape in Rwanda, child-headed families in Soweto, children of prostitutes in India, farmers who sold blood for money in China - it describes life among the infected and the affected, and what I and my family saw.
'As well as discovering a world in worse shape than we ever imagined, and seemingly on the brink of collapse, we also encountered incredible resilience and life. We learned that it isn't so much power, politics, religion, guns or money that brings about transformation - it's small acts of kindness performed by unsung people of faith, choosing to live in hope.
'On the journey I did several broadcasts for BBC Radio 4's Thought For The Day and the BBC World Service's In The Blood - reporting on what I saw. These can be accessed through the BBC and Salvation Army web sites.'
The Salvation Army's response to HIV has been at the forefront of local community and organisational initiatives for more than 20 years. Consistent with Salvation Army identity, history and culture, the main characteristic of the approach has been accompaniment and inclusion of people with HIV, with cultivation of building healthy relationships with relatives, friends and neighbours.
This has demonstrated 'love in action' in places as far apart from each other as Longchuen in China, and Cochabamba in Bolivia, as well as long-standing and intensively developed work in many countries of Africa and India. Examples of innovative participation and advocacy are evident in parts of Europe and North America.
Programmes involving youth, children, families and neighbourhoods, home visits and care have been the entry to widespread prevention.
Stimulation of behaviour change through local neighbourhood groups and communities, supported by Salvation Army corps and health centres, has resulted in the prevention of many thousands of infections.
The Salvation Army has also pioneered a strategy for the expansion of local response through fostering the development of 'facilitation teams'. This methodology utilises the experience of local people, from within their own cultural context, combined to form a team that responds to invitations for support and stimulation from people and countries where responses are needed.
Partnerships are fostered with international organisations such as the Constellation for Aids Competence and the Global Network for Reconciliation, which have become a channel for sharing experience and the gospel within countries, and international policy-makers and donor organisations.
Biography:
Rhidian Brook is an award-winning novelist, screen and short story writer.
His first novel, The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones, won the 1997 Somerset Maugham Award and was made into a film. His second novel, Jesus and the Adman, was published in 1999 to laudatory reviews. His first film for television, Mr Harvey Lights A Candle, starring Timothy Spall, was screened on BBC1 in 2005. Also, in Easter 2005 Rhidian presented a television documentary about the Cross for BBC1. Rhidian has had a number of short stories published and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He has written articles on faith, travel and education for many newspapers and is a regular contributor to Radio 4's Thought For The Day on the Today programme.
Rhidian is married to Nicola. They have two children, Gabriel and Agnes. They live in London.