African leaders look to Buckner as ally in war on AIDS

Posted: 7/21/06

African leaders look to
Buckner as ally in war on AIDS

By Scott Collins

Buckner Benevolences

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Religious and government officials in four African nations welcomed staff and trustees from Buckner Benevolences and Buckner Orphan Care International.

The “vision tour” group led by Buckner President Ken Hall met with leading government officials during stops in Nigeria and Ethiopia. They asked the Dallas-based organization to help with the growing problems related to orphans throughout Sub-Sahara Africa brought on by the AIDS epidemic.

The four-nation tour was a first step intended to expand Buckner’s scope of ministry both internationally and domestically, Hall said. The organization is exploring additional opportunities and requests to address the needs of children and families worldwide, he added.

David Hennessee, a member of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio and a Buckner trustee, gives a pair of shoes to an orphan child in Addis Ababa.

“I really believe that ‘for such a time as this,’ God has placed Buckner in a crucial and strategic place to touch more boys and girls and to improve their lives,” Hall said.

“We’ve been blessed with tremendous expertise and resources, and it is our responsibility to faithfully share those with children and with organizations and governments around the world looking to make a difference.”

Buckner aggressively is looking for global partners in what Hall termed an “unprecedented and intentional plan to move Buckner to the next level of ministry.”

“Our 127 years of ministry to children and families in Texas and the past 10 years of international ministry have positioned us for the next phase of Buckner’s life and ministry,” he said.

Ethiopian President Girma Wolde-Giorgis met with the group for more than one and one-half hours and told them: “You are most welcome in Ethiopia. The AIDS epidemic is affecting every part of our society. Many of our problems were never solved. They have accumulated over the years.”

A priority for the Ethiopian government is the continued development of foster care so children are not forced to grow up in orphanages, Wolde-Giorgis said.

“We must provide families for these children,” he told the Buckner group. The Ethiopian president also asked Buckner for assistance in developing educational and medical programs for children.

In Ethiopia, the Buckner group met Getahun Tesema, president of Bright Hope, a Christian ministry dedicated to providing for the country’s orphans through extensive development programs. Tesema is a former Dallas taxi driver who returned to his native country to begin the ministry in 2000.

In Nigeria, Minister of Health Eyitayo Lambo said he was aware of Buckner’s work in other parts of the world. “There is a lot we can do together,” he said.

Lambo added that while Nigeria’s rate of AIDS infection is dropping annually, the country still has the world’s third-largest population affected by the disease. Nigeria has Africa’s largest population—about 120 million. While the government does not have current statistics, estimates put the total number of orphans in the country at around 7 million, with about 2 million of those being orphaned due to AIDS.

Many families in Nigeria refuse to admit there are AIDS orphans because of the stigma associated with the disease, Lambo said. Along with AIDS, he said, the other causes creating orphans are poverty and social changes in Nigeria.

To meet the country’s challenges, Nigeria needs help from nongovernmental organizations like Buckner, Lambo said. He asked Buckner officials to work with his staff to develop a memorandum of understanding leading to a formal proposal.

“I want us to do this immediately,” Lambo said. “We want to start yesterday.”

Buckner will explore possible ministry options in Nigeria, Hall said.

“We want to move cautiously and look for victories along the way,” he said.

Sunday Onuoha, president of Vision Africa, assisted the Buckner team in Nigeria. Onuoha, a graduate of Southern Methodist University and its Perkins School of Theology, is a former high-ranking official in the Nigerian government.

In Kenya, Buckner leaders looked for ways to expand a foster care program started three years ago. Mike Douris, vice president and general manager of Buckner Orphan Care Inter-national, said Buckner hopes to add more families to foster care programs already in place in Nairobi and the northern district of Busia.

“African culture and Africans are generally opposed to institutionalizing children unless there is no other way” to help them, Douris said. “Foster care seems to be a natural fit for children needing a home and for families.”

Dickson Masindano, Buck-ner Africa director, told the group foster care has a bright future in Kenya and other parts of Africa because it fits the culture of extended families caring for orphan children.

The Buckner group also looked for ways to fund and build new community development centers in cooperation with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Representatives from several churches in Texas visited potential sites for the construction and development of the community development program.

Congregations represented included First Baptist Church in Lubbock, First Baptist Church in Amarillo, Oakwood Baptist Church in Lubbock, The Oaks Baptist Church in Grand Prairie and Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. Representatives from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Missouri, national CBF and the Baptist General Convention of Texas also participated in the trip.

During their stop in Morocco, Buckner officials visited two orphanages and consulted with leaders of those homes who are seeking advice from child care and medical professionals from Buckner.