That's the candid assessment of Bernice Gatere, executive director of Trans World Radio-Kenya, a pioneer in originating compassionate and life-changing broadcasts that tackle head-on the daunting threat of AIDS. Gatere's appraisal is blunt, but she emphatically states that Africa needs tough love.
Just as a lion tracks his prey, death is stalking the African continent, considered the epicenter of the on-going global HIV/AIDS crisis. With now more than 40 million adults and children suffering worldwide from this ravaging disease, according to the most recent statistics, 28.1 million people live in sub-Saharan Africa. In 16 countries within the region, at least 10 percent of those between 15 and 40 are infected, and in several southern African states, the number is at least 20 percent - or higher.
The newest figures were released by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization prior to the Dec. 1 observance of World AIDS Day. At the same time, several countries report that their average life expectancy is plummeting at a frightening pace.
Trans World Radio-Africa has been breaking the silence about HIV/AIDS since the early 1990s. The mission continues to demonstrate innovative leadership in producing programs that both educate Africans about the pandemic and declare Christian love and hope to people desperate for good news.
Trans World Radio (TWR) is the most far-reaching Christian broadcasting network in the world today. Each week, TWR airs more than 1,840 hours of Christian programming in over 175 languages to listeners in more than 160 countries. In Africa, TWR broadcasts from Swaziland and Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as by satellite and local stations.
TWR-Africa's involvement in combating AIDS began with a special on the epidemic through its developmental program, Africa Challenge, which links the gospel of Christ to a broad range of humanitarian issues. As the human toll from this disease grew, Africa Challenge set aside one day of the week to broadcast AIDS programs.
The response was instantaneous. Letters from across the continent expressed gratitude and desire for more information. The program forthrightly, yet diplomatically, examined the crisis in a way that both challenged and encouraged the sufferers, their families, and caregivers. Local church communities were urged to set the pace in becoming actively involved in helping patients.
A sub-project of Africa Challenge, now popularly known as The Honey That Kills, was born in the mid-1990s, with an emphasis on the scourge of AIDS in Africa. The program not only proclaims sexual purity and marital fidelity, but also God's comfort and peace for those who are infected or affected - for everyone is now one or the other. The Honey That Kills started airing on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, followed next by Radio Uganda.
UNAIDS reports that "Uganda remains the only African country to have turned a major epidemic around. Its extraordinary effort of national mobilization pushed the adult HIV prevalence rate down from around 14 percent in the early 1990s to 8 percent in 2000." The Honey That Kills has aired over Radio Uganda for years and has received high reviews in Ugandan newspapers as contributing toward this remarkable reversal.
In addition to Kenya and Uganda, Trans World Radio-Africa airs AIDS programming in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Burundi, and most of French West Africa (Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Niger and Mali). Programs are broadcast in the local languages spoken in those countries - including English, French, and the respective indigenous languages.
Plans are under way to produce AIDS programs in another five languages for French West Africa.
TWR-Africa is working closely with churches and other ministries, as well as governmental agencies, to combat HIV/AIDS at the grassroots level. The aim is to assist in the counseling of many listeners who write in response to the program.
One woman recently said, "I was living with a man, but because of our bad relationship, I decided to leave him. After I started listening to your programs, I decided to see the doctor because I was not feeling well. He asked me to have some tests done, and discovered that I am HIV positive. I know that I got it from that man because his life was not good at all. Through your broadcast, I decided to give my life to Jesus and to serve the Lord. No matter what happens, He will take care of me."
Richard S. Greene is the director of public relations for Trans World Radio.
