Introduction

HIV and AIDS is one of the most critical issues facing Botswana. With more than one third of the adult population battling this disease, all aspects of life are affected: child welfare as communities struggle to care for orphans or the children of ill parents, poverty as many families are left without income providers, and spirituality as survivors struggle with grief and abandonment. With such devastation affecting communities across all of Botswana, Flying Mission Care Ministries has deeply desired to find ways of helping people to find hope and new life amid these struggles.

Knowing that such a sweeping epidemic requires a comprehensive response, FMC was excited to partner with SIM (Serving In Mission) and their HOPE for AIDS campaign. This programme seeks to support people physically, spiritually, and emotionally through all stages of their encounter with HIV and AIDS: prevention for the uninfected, empowerment for those struggling to live with the disease, palliative care for the ill, orphan care for those left behind. FMC is bringing HOPE through:

Home Based Care – Institutional care for millions of dying people in the developing world is impossible. HOPE for AIDS comes alongside home-based caregivers with practical help giving the sick comfort, food and companionship.

Orphan Care – With millions of children becoming orphans worldwide due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the traditional response of orphanages would be impossible. HOPE for AIDS seeks to empower churches and extended families to care for these orphans, and corporately provide for their nutritional, educational, emotional and spiritual needs.

Prevention – HOPE for AIDS knows that promoting a lifestyle of abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage is the only way to stem the tide of this tragedy. Life skills training, discipleship, education, counselling and voluntary testing are all vital tools in preventing the spread of this disease.

Enabling – Often local churches and organisations, while rich in compassion and enthusiasm, lack the resources and experience to work in new ways to care for those in need. HOPE for AIDS is committed to equipping local churches and Christian organisations with the resources they need to carry out their work more effectively.

FMC exists to equip and encourage Christian community initiatives in HIV and AIDS work throughout Botswana.

Flying Mission's resources to provide this HOPE tend to be impermanent, highly skilled people. While these people are not available long enough for FMC to create direct programming tailored to their gifts, they do have knowledge and experience that many local organisations desperately need. Because of these circumstances, FMC is able to use these skilled resources to equip and train local Christian organisations so they can be more effective in their own ministry. By sharing their skills with several different organisations, these trained people spread out their expertise and have a much greater impact. There are three ways that FMC works to equip and encourage others:

Capacity Building – FMC provides training and assistance to many organisations as our resources and their needs correspond. Although we may work very closely with these groups for an extended period of time, there is no agreement of long-term partnership.
Partnerships – Periodically FMC encounters an organisation that has incredible potential but which needs a long term partner in order to succeed. FMC has entered into several of these long-term partnerships and is committed to working with these organisations until they are self-reliant.
Lifeskills & Discipleship – FMC is committed to preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS by equipping people to live lives of character. The school-based Lifeskills programme is a series of character development lessons that equips youth to make good decisions. The church-based Discipleship programme uses contextualized discipleship lessons to nurture believers in their faith.
Interested in more information on ...
– the SIM HOPE for AIDS campaign? » Hope for Aids
– how to Get Involved? » Personnel Needs
– partnering with us to bring HOPE? » Current Projects