Sisters hold all-Africa conference on HIV/AIDS

Catholic nuns doing HIV/AIDS ministries across Africa are gathering in Bronkhortspruit, east of Pretoria, South Africa, today for a five day conference to focus on ways to support and care for each other. The event aims to help nuns to care for themselves in this demanding and strenuous ministry. With the diminishing number of new nuns and the ageing of others, very few are left to do the work. It is a big challenge to all nuns' organisations as to how they care for their members who are engaged in rendering their service in the HIV/AIDS ministry. African nuns are powerful in themselves, yet in response to the AIDS pandemic they have been limited by lack of resources to come together, share problems and opportunities, collaborate in ministries, discern together and implement their plans. The objective of the conference have to do with overcoming these limits. The conference, organized by the All-Africa Conference: Sister to Sister will bring together nuns from Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to listen, learn and develop strategies for themselves to respond to the AIDS pandemic. The Sisters will have opportunities to develop insights and make connections from their personal experiences to the economic, cultural, religious and social issues that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS and hamper its prevention and treatment. Source: SACBC