"ZIM-team Alliance"

This is to alert you to something specific we'd like to ask you to pray with us about.

We have spoken in this Blog of the issue of collaboration.

Networking and the coordination of shared resources is an intentional component of our strategy both within Zimbabwe and in the Southern African region. We are also intentional about the involvement of other key global participants.

As momentum for the initiative increases in Zimbabwe, there is building momentum in North America as a small group of local congregations of Christ followers prayerfully consider the role they might have as part of this alliance.

An Alliance, by definition, is a collaborative relationship among churches, groups, and individuals who commit to resource the realization of a shared vision.

This is going to be much more than the kind of partnership where churches provide the money and the mission does the rest. The thing that excites us about the alliance concept is the fact that participants will share in every aspect of the ministry, from visioning and strategy formulation to hands-on engagement as time and finances allow.

We're wanting to tap into expertise represented by participating alliance members when it comes to practical issues like farming practices, clean water, child and women welfare and any number of other spiritual, social and/or medical issues that have to do with the crisis. Most of all, the main goal is a spiritual one, and will need discerning spiritual leadership on a number of levels ... including prayer and counsel with hurting Zimbabweans.

Global church-to-church cooperation with the Zimbabwean Church is what it's all about.

Please pray for already interested parties as they track through the discernment process.

Want to be a part? You are invited to prayerfully consider that possibility!

Our team will be engaging in intentional conversation in the new year with groups and individuals who have shown interest in participating in the Zimbabwe HIV/AIDS Alliance. Participation in the discussion will not commit anyone to actual involvement, but it will benefit interested parties by providing them with the kind of information necessary to contribute to a prayerful discernment process.

Please write to budwestcoast@shaw.ca if you'd like to know more.

How Do The Numbers Compare?

We all know that Southern Africa is not the only region in the grip of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  Even so-called  "first world" nations have not escaped it.

Experts predict, for instance, that as the epidemic gains momentum in South East Asia it will make the impact felt by Africa pale into relative insignificance.

The global battle continues to rage, but positive reports continue to come in from some regions of the African continent.  Some West Africa nations are case in point.  Our people in Swaziland, for instance, report a significant shift in the numbers of recent years.  This phenomenon is not reflected in the numbers below, because they represent the reality, as far as it could be assessed, by the end of 2007. We expect statistics presently in the making to show real progress.

Nevertheless, the statistics enumerated below reflect some of the points made above, and serve as an interesting point of comparison.  One of the things the statistics point out is the degree of devastation the pandemic has caused among the senior sectors of African society as compared to North America.  This reality is brought to bear at the level of the younger generations in Africa, particularly the adolescent generation.

Literacy rates are fairly similar, while life expectancy varies dramatically. This speaks of hope that the potential to hear and understand can bring.  The time is right, the mechanics are in place, good things are being done, the positive potential is real ... we are encouraged.  We're grateful for your encouragement and participation in the cause.


Southern Africa - US - Canada Comparison - SIn

Statistics and Other Information

This is for those who are interested in statistical over-views.

We are indebted to George NcFall (TEAM) for the statistical maps added today.

They give us as accurate a view available today of background statistics for Southern Africa in terms of population and age distribution and the  impact of HIV/AIDS.

NOTE: This is a work in progress.  As information is sourced, we will make it available to you.  Should you have information that could be added to these maps, or suggestions for other maps, we'd love to hear of them.  Write to budwestcoast@shaw.ca.



Southern Africa_4 Maps_Pop_AgeDst_Lit_Urb_S -



Southern Africa_4 Maps_HIV_AIDS_Impact_S -

“AIDSLINK” Newsletter

TEAM and SIM share a common vision in terms of where and how to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Southern Africa.  Leaders of both organizations are serious about working together to address this common challenge. 

SIM has been on the forefront of HIV/AIDS response since the pandemic became known.  In addition to direct hands-on involvement where TEAM is working alone, TEAM is committed to making a meaningful coordinated contribution to the momentum SIM has achieved. 

SIM’s HOPE for Aids teams are working in some of the same areas where TEAM is engaged (see http://hopeforaids.org/)

H – Home-based care

O – Orphan care

P – Prevention

E – Enabling

SIM has also developed “AIDSLINK,” an excellent  newsletter by which people are being kept up to date on information having to do with HIV/AIDS.

We have obtained permission to publish this newsletter on our Blog. 

You can also subscribe to receive the newsletter if you wish to do so.

AIDSLINK December -





AIDSLINK December -  

"From There to Here ..."

Many friends have asked us how it came about that we moved from the work focus we've been committed to for many years to something so different.


"From evangelism and church planting to humanitarian work" ... some have said.


This post is for friends and ministry partners who are interested to know the process by which we advanced from where we were to where we are.


It is no contradiction. It is obedience to an ever deepening conviction to complete the task.


We have just added a slideshow presentation to the Blog that will help you track with us across the terrain by which we have come, not to simply humanitarian work, but to action that is being motivated by a commitment to a genuine theology of compassion;  mentoring and facilitating people in the pews to a practical response to the mandate Christ gave when He said "AS the Father has sent me, so send I you."  


Please click on the title "Background & Vision for the Zim HIV/AIDS Initiative" in the "Links to Slideshows, Reports and Presentations" window on the right-hand side of the Blog, or simply click on the link 
http://www.slideshare.net/secret/EwP1AWHUKW1aXs


We thank you for your interest.

We are indebted to our dear friends Doug and Jackie for the role of encouragement they have played in our lives. We are grateful for having had opportunity to travel with the DTW team in Kenya in 2008. This experience occurred at a very significant time in our life.

"I Am Because We Are ..."

If you can spare an hour and a half to take a deeply moving and reflective journey to another world click on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KamKXZHXMUA&annotation_id=annotation_834541&feature=iv

Maddona’s documentary, “I am Because We Are” will show you another side of Maddona, but it will show you much more … and trigger thoughts and reflections that could well take you off on any number of tangents.

There are many avenues and varied approaches by which different people from different socio-economic vantage points are involving themselves in the collective response presently underway to come to grips with the multi-layered horrors of today’s African predicament.

In my mind, the situation is serious enough to stifle any criticism of any of these approaches.  I’m grateful for any sincere response.  It matters enough that something is being done by any and every effort that’s being made that it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s sustainable or not, or whether it’s contra or counter cultural or not.

The documentary’s title comes from a Zulu saying, “I am because we are,” that speaks of the deeply ingrained sense of community that exists among Africa’s traditional peoples. 

As I watched and reflected on the interpretation given to the saying by the documentary, I couldn’t leave the African context … and it made me feel that much more that we are on the right track with our vision.

A traditional African person finds his or her identity in the greater “we” of the community in which he or she resides.  We see the African predicament when we look into the eyes of an individual African who is part of that predicament. 

Ironically, one can look into the eyes of another African and see a different Africa altogether, but it is the marginalized and disenfranchised we’re concerned about.

How much of the helplessness and hopelessness we see deep in those individual eyes is a measure of the helplessness and hopelessness of the collective society because deterioration and disintegration in society has brought about tragic deterioration and disintegration to countless individuals.

My guess is that one is a reflection of the other.  Some may argue that we need to improve the society for the benefit of individuals.  I would argue the opposite.  I would argue that to give meaningful attention to one is to give meaningful attention to the whole.

That’s why our vision centers on giving ourselves to facilitate an indigenous movement that is presently underway; on the part of poor people to poor people, in the name of Christ, that is profoundly relevant in cultural and social terms, with a view to bringing physical, emotional, social and spiritual redemption to individuals … who make up the whole … that will, in turn, impact individuals for the better.

Could this be the hope for Africa that Africa has been hoping for?

Subscription Service offered …

We’re looking for feedback.  Feedback comes from a network of family, personal friends and other folk (soon to become friends) who are interested in the project.  A network needs to be informed. The best way to be informed is to keep up to date with the progress of this exciting initiative by signing up to receive an E-mail alert every time a new post is added to the Blog.

We invite you to do so by entering your E-mail address in the top right hand corner of this Blog.

We need advice, are open to council, could use lots of encouragement and would just like to gain a sense of who wants to be included in our network, so we welcome Blog comments and E-mails. 

You can write to Bud at budwestcoast@shaw.ca.

You can write to Mandy at mandaliz9@gmail.com.

"Everyone One Hundred Campaign"

TEAM will be launching a great campaign in January 2010 that is intended to offer you hot-off-the-press weekly content designed to edify and challenge you. 

Not only will you see a weekly selection of prayer requests from around the world, you will also receive helpful materials to encourage spiritual growth in the areas of prayer and giving.  You can also look for specific answers to prayer and other news.

All you need to do is log on to www.TEAMeveryone.org, enter your E-mail address, name, mailing information and phone number, and you will receive a thank you message via email that includes seven key items to pray for in the days leading up to the start of the campaign.

You’ll see there an excellent summary of each of these key items (including Zimbabwe’s HIV/AIDS initiative). These requests, and others that will follow, will each speak to amazing open doors for ministry God has given to TEAM. It's a great way of keeping your finger on the pulse of what God is doing through TEAM around the world. 

If you consider global prayer a ministry in itself, this campaign is for you. 

Winter Newsletter 2009

Newsletter -

Living Positively With HIV ... South Africa Reaches a Significant Mile Stone"

People can live positively with HIV.

The people you see here are a part of a happy community of multi-generational individuals who are being cared for by Karanda's "Home Based Care" initiative.  They gather regularly for counselling, training, emotional encouragement and spiritual edification.  At these times, they receive a re-supply of the medicines that ... along with other practical disciplines ... are keeping them alive.

If it had not been for the fact that the Zimbabwe government eventually recognized HIV and AIDS some years ago for what they are ... after having denied the existence of AIDS ... these people would be dead.

Associated Press reported today that South African President, Jacob Zuma announced that South Africa will treat all HIV-positive babies and expand testing.  This announcement marks a dramatic and meaningful shift in the country in Africa with more people living with HIV than any other.

A Harvard study of the years under Zuma's predecessor, who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, concluded that more than 300,000 premature deaths in South Africa could have been prevented had officials there acted sooner to provide drug treatments to AIDS patients and to prevent pregnant women with HIV from passing the virus to their children.


The United States government is contributing to this new turn of events with a gift to South Africa of $120 million over the next two years for AIDS treatment.


NOW ... if only the money and provisions can get to those who need them the most ... That is our prayer.