After learning about the link between HIV and sexual and gender-based violence, the Rev Neila Ingram said what was on the minds of many women religious leaders: “So now I have work to go and do in my community and church.”
Ingram, an African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor, was one of about 30 women who attended a SAVE – or Safer Practices, Access to Treatment and Nutrition, Voluntary Testing and Counselling and Empowerment – workshop offered by the Jamaica Council of Churches in partnership with the World Council of Churches and the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with and Affected by HIV.
The workshop, held in St Ann, Jamaica, aimed to raise awareness among women religious leaders about HIV/AIDS and its relation to sexual and gender-based violence. The training is designed to motivate action to address these issues within local congregations and faith communities.
By the end of the workshop, the women said they were inspired not only to work together but to go forth locally as true carriers of hope and agents of change.
“It was a very moving and spiritual experience for me quite separate from the knowledge gained,” reflected the Rev Jean Fairweather Wilson of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Eliminating stigma and discrimination within their congregations and faith communities became a top priority for the participants, including the Rev Tara Tyme-Campbell of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. “I am now resolved to go forth and do what I can so all God’s people can have life and have it more abundantly,” she said.
SAVE workshop participants committed to initiate and engage programmes in and or on behalf of their member church or faith community in support of reducing sexual and gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS.
The Jamaican Council of Churches (JCC) will continue to communicate with its member churches to share action plans and request timelines.
(WCC)