Students Fast Mobilizing in AIDS Fight
College students are mobilizing just as hard as church leaders who are still just waking up to the widespread HIV/AIDS crisis.
While church involvement in the global AIDS fight is growing, the director of the college grassroots movement “Acting on AIDS” believes that the HIV/AIDS stigma is widely present in the older generation of Christians more so than younger believers.
Jyl Hall referenced a Barna survey conducted a few years ago that revealed an alarmingly small percentage of Christian adults willing to support a child with AIDS. According to Hall, only 3 percent of surveyed adults said they are willing to sponsor a child knowing that the child was an AIDS orphan.
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"I think that you can say with confidence that in the older generation of the church, in general, that (stigma presence) is true," said Hall, "but I think that you can also find that it's changing a lot as more people find out about it and find out how hard hit the places of poverty are, and how the issue is more socioeconomic than behavioral although behavioral issues are very strong with the AIDS pandemic."
Hall leads a three-year-old college movement that has activities on more than 100 campuses now. Interest on helping the AIDS crisis had stirred on campuses years before but other groups had not propagated as much as Acting on AIDS has, explained Hall.
Acting on AIDS began with a few students at Seattle Pacific University and is a part of international relief organization World Vision. The few students resolved to mobilize their generation and move the Church to respond to the crisis.
"I would say in the last year AIDS has gotten more attention by the Church at large, which was one of our goals, and this definitely happened because of a lot of other ways that World Vision has helped to bring it to the attention of others," Hall noted.
College students are preparing for their "Lives are at Stake" campaign on World AIDS Day when students and faculty will be encouraged to pray for orphaned children and the fight against AIDS.
The AIDS crisis is also making a prominent showing at one of the nation's largest student mission conferences – Urbana. In December, tens of thousands of students will learn of the global pandemic and how it affects global missions. The issue of AIDS will also be talked up in seminars throughout the conference.
"Students are finding that they're able to educate not only their peers but their families on this issue," said Hall. "Urbana attracts the best of the best – students who are most passionate and motivated to be not only activists but people who want to carry the message of Christ to all the corners of the earth. They'll be educated on the issue and they'll take that message with them.
"There's a lot that needs to be done but the first stage is that people need to know that this is going on and it's a crisis and there's hope."
As churches are continuing to fight HIV/AIDS stigma and are beginning to share concern, Hall believes students have a huge influence in getting the entire church community involved.
"My hope is that students continue to fight apathy and ... think 'if we did have another student movement, we could do something about this and we could make a change with the gifts and the talents and the resources that God has given us.'"
