Tearfund launched on Tuesday its latest Aids appeal pack, which features film footage of a family of children orphaned by Aids in Uganda also used in a broadcast by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In the short film produced in association with Tearfund, Dr Rowan Williams talks of the response to HIV throughout the world that has been put into action by faith communities, including the Christian church, but also recognises the failings of the church in the past.
It recognises that churches are already engaging but acknowledges the work still to do in tackling the pandemic that sees some 35 million people living with HIV today.
The footage comes from another short film made for Tearfund by award winning production company Pretzel, which follows 13 year old Rachel. She is literally one in a million children that have been orphaned by Aids in Uganda.
Having lost both parents and finding herself heading a household for her six younger siblings she daily cooks, cleans and digs a small area of land to grow food. The DVD pack – Bring Childhood Back to Life - talks of the simple things that will do just that, including the provision of education, nutritious food, medicine, and the care and support of a compassionate church.
“If I didn’t have the pastor, it would be terrible for me,” says Rachel. “When my parents died, I realised I’m left alone and as the eldest I have to look after the younger ones.”
Rachel has been acting as a single parent since the age of eight. But she is by no means alone. Eighty per cent of children orphaned by Aids, some 12 million, live in sub-Saharan Africa. Many are older children caring for younger siblings. Worldwide a child is orphaned by Aids every 15 seconds.
