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Susan Bullard
Care Team Volunteer
Florence Scott
Care Team Volunteer
Rev. Deborah Warren
President & CEO, Regional AIDS Interfaith Network
David Witt
HIV Positive
Fred Wiggins
HIV Positive

Helping African Orphans with AIDS

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Why did you establish the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network?
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There were a lot of people living in isolation. There were a lot of families who were struggling, were trying to go to work and make sure their loved one was taken care of during the day, and it really is to me what the faith community is all about, to be with people who are sick, who are having struggles, and I wanted to bring the resources that we have in the faith community to people living with AIDS. Although almost every major denomination had issued a resolution saying that we ought to be compassionate and caring for those who have HIV or AIDS, it hadn't really trickled down to the local church at least where I could see it here in the Carolinas. There was a lot of misinformation. There were a lot of myths.

What does RAIN do?
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We organize teams of volunteers from various congregations of all faiths and train them to offer compassionate care, support, friendship, and practical services to people living with AIDS. We also go into congregations and provide information to the folks there about HIV is transmitted, how you can protect yourself, and we invite people who are living with HIV into the congregations with us to tell their story so there can be greater understanding so that the myths can be dispelled, and so we can raise up for people the tenets of our faith that we've been taught all our lives about how we should put our faith into action, how we should care for those who are ill, how we can really live out our faith.

What effect does RAIN's work have?
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It makes such a difference both to the people who are infected and to us and our volunteers because spiritual care, knowing how important you are to somebody else, knowing somebody else cares about you, knowing that you have somebody you can sit down and talk to maybe if you're not able to talk to your family or your loved ones or reveal that you're HIV positive or maybe some folks that you do know might not understand, to have someone that you can sit down and share how HIV is affecting you improves your health. And people reconnect to their own spirituality and their own faith tradition and that grows and their health improves.

We think it's so simple, but when we know people care about us, genuinely care about us, and aren't there to judge us our health, our attitude, our spirituality, everything about us makes a complete turnaround.

Churches, Temples, Mosques, all our faith groups have a lot of power in the south, and people sometimes wait to hear what the faith community has to say on a subject before they decide whether or not they're going to be compassionate or caring about this particular issue. So we in the Church, in our Temples and other faith groups, have an important role to play in the south. If we can impact the attitudes of stigma and judgment that are so rampant here, if we can promote an attitude of compassion, then that's going to open up so many more avenues for people who are HIV positive, more services, more monies for the AIDS drug assistance program, then other leaders will take their cue from the faith communities.

It's pretty amazing and remarkable, and it crosses so many boundaries that normally separate us. I think AIDS brings the widest diversity of people together.