Gift Day - South Africa’s Hillcrest Aids Centre - 31 January 2010

By Reverend Jennifer Jane Sistig (assistant non-stipendiary curate in the benefice of Fleet) 

At Ss Philip and James Church on Advent Sunday last year I spoke about the impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa as part of our ‘Gift Sunday’ programme.  While that Sunday was dedicated to the support of an organisation called ACTS I was able to speak from my own experience of living and ministering in South Africa.  I mentioned my previous involvement in the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust (HACT) and since then our parish council has decided to establish a relationship with them in order to support their work on a regular basis.

From March 2005 until July 2008 I served as a trustee of HACT by virtue of my position as Rector (Incumbent) of the Parish of Holy Trinity, Hillcrest.  While that position enabled me to learn about the organization, it was only in 2007 that I personally discovered the power of their work to save and transform lives.  That realisation is best described in the story of three people, but I could not do them justice in a short publication.  Instead, let me provide you with some basic information.

Hillcrest is a town in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal about half-way between Durban and South Africa.  It was a rural village until recently and is best known for its schools and its status as the home town of Alan Paton, author of Cry the Beloved Country and other works.  The parish of Hillcrest was established in the late 1970’s thanks in part to Paton, who as a Synod representative moved to have Hillcrest established as a multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-congregational parish composed of a white suburb and several ‘townships’ (black villages within the Zulu reservation of the Valley of 1000 Hills.)

Kwa-Zulu Natal is known to have the highest incidence of HIV worldwide.  By the time I left Hillcrest in 2008 the HIV infection rate within the population of the parish was about 46%. Andreas (who was the curate) spent almost every Saturday burying people.  The 2007 statistics released about one of the ‘townships’ in the parish known as Embo showed that the incidence of HIV amongst women who had used their government ante-natal services was 75%.

It is in this context that HACT does its work.  It was established as a joint venture between the Methodist and Anglican church and is now the longest running HIV/AIDS NGO in South Africa.  Their work, which they view as a ministry, saves lives.   This is their description of themselves:

The Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust is a faith-based ministry that has grown to become a multi-faceted HIV/AIDS project.  This ministry attempts to address the impact of the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic in a practical and holistic way.  The mission of the organisation is and always has been to show unconditional love to all infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in a practical way.  

Their programmes include home-based care, respite care, education and awareness, counselling, feeding schemes, a school fee fund, a craft income-generation programme (Woza Moya which means ‘Come Spirit’) and a horticulture project.  This year one of the trees in the Christmas tree festival has been decorated with ‘little travellers’ made by Woza Moya’s beaders.

Your support has the power to keep people alive.  Please pray for them, and if you would like to learn more about them please visit their website: http://www.hillaids.org.za/   A huge thank you to everyone who supported our gift day in aid of Hillcrest Aids Centre. We have raised £1532 73 so far and more is still coming in. If you missed it, it is still not too late to drop a contribution off with a warden or to Charlotte at the parish office!

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