On January 21st, I posted A Priest's Journey From Zambia to Hawaii
One of the topics mentioned in that article I shared was Fr. Peter's working to help those afflicted with HIV/AIDS on the continent of Africa.
In his continued work for this important cause in helping the people of his native land, Father's story will be featured on local access station Olelo. The following is what Father Peter shared with me:
...I just wanted to let you know that I will be featured on OLELO TELEVISION, CHANNEL 54, ON MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2009 @ 6pm.If you are a reader here in Hawaii, please share this info with your friends. More importantly, please keep Father Peter, those involved in finding a cure for the AIDS virus and those suffering from this terrible disease, in your prayers.
I will be featured for 30 minutes with a fellow Zambian by the name Sody Munsaka, who is in a doctoral program at UH, specializing in HIV/AIDS research. We will be discussing the global epidemic of the HIV/AIDS situation especially its great impact on the continent of Africa; how it has affected families across the board, including my own, and also my personal experiences in working with people suffering from this disease.
If you would like to post this on you blog, that will be perfect because it is also a very educative interview to many who might not be aware of this pandemic...
Fr. Peter.
My own parish is very involved with helping a Maryknoll sister in Musoma, Tanzania through our AIDS ministry. The AIDS ministry has provided support for Sister Marion and her work with the orphans since 2000.
If we all do our small part, we will wipe AIDS off the face of the earth.
When you mentioned that your parish has linked up with Sr. Marion, a Maryknoll Sister in Tanzania, I went to the Maryknoll Sisters' website (http://www.mklsisters.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=591&Itemid=1) to look up her bio.
ReplyDeleteI'm in NY. How can non-Hawaiians get involved in your good work with Sr. Marion?
A, you may want to email the sisters. There are a few email addresses listed at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mklsisters.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=3
They would put you in contact with Sister Marion.
Thanks, Esther, for your advice.
ReplyDeleteHow is your parish in Hawaii involved with Sr. Marion's AIDS work?
A, I asked one of my friends who works in this ministry to reply. Here is his response:
ReplyDeleteMaryknoll in New York has an AIDS Task Force headed up by me and Pat's friend Susan Weissert. They have good, direct connections with Sister Marion and others' missions in Africa and the world. If this person were in Hawaii, we would be happy to assist the parish personally but, as it is not, two sources would be good for setting up an AIDS ministry, in this order: SECCAM (seccam.org, I believe), the Southeast Conference of Catholic AIDS Ministers (of which MPCC, despite the "southeast" moniker, is a member). SECCAM is assisted principally by the archdiocese of Atlanta and the diocese of Orlando, both of which have excellent resources and can refer inquirers to more. Secondly, the National Catholic AIDS Network (ncan.org, I think) may have something. NCAN is actually now defunct, but the website remains and should have a link to an entire manual for AIDS ministries.
Hope that helps.