Supporting action - facilitating connection
What if ..
- your kind thoughts and good wishes could help people with HIV/Aids as much as your money?
In a valley in the mountains in KwaZuluNatal, much like many others, a community of 23,000 people live in extreme poverty with some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. 47% of the pregnant women are infected. 80% of the population are unemployed. Nearest medical treatment is 10 miles away and the journey usually has to be made on foot. There is widespread hunger – many grandmothers caring for their orphan grandchildren - and local undertakers are doing a brisk trade.
Kelly Wilson, co-founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy writes:
‘I find myself moved to tears as I settle into the notion of what is happening. I also feel saddened by my own unwillingness to sit for a moment with the hard facts of the world. It seems so sad it requires a reminder. So, a simple red bead on a black thread would help I think. It would help me. I would wear one every day. And if I looked down, or found myself fiddling with it, I might just stop and take a moment and be willing to be present. This has a cost. You will, without fail, make contact with the hard fact that you will never be able to give enough to end this. The other path we take is just not to think about it. This is what most people do. This is what I mostly do'.
A quote from the UK:-
"I wear it all the time. At any time in the day I can feel the bead with my fingers and it reminds me of what else is going on the world. Someone I love has dementia. The thread is a way of making connections, of making real the compassion that is necessary for us to thrive. With that sense of the relatedness of all life, I can then get on with what I am doing."
Tim D.
A beautiful valley – but every household is affected by HIV/Aids and there are many have new graves
