03.12.2024

Together Against AIDS in Solidarity

UEM in solidarity: The coworkers are wearing the red ribbon. Anja Cours (front, right) represents UEM in the working group World AIDS Day. Photo by: Johannes Schermuly, UEM

“We want this celebration to send a positive message, promote exchange, and bring people together,” emphasizes Susann Heichel, team leader of the local Aids Help Wuppertal, Germany.

For World AIDS Day on 1 December 2024, Aids Help Wuppertal (Germany) and organisations from the working group World AIDS day hosted a celebration in the courtyard of the Aidshilfe building on 30 November. With live music, sweet waffles, hot drinks and lovingly decorated Christmas trees, the evening gave visitors an opportunity to come together and start talking, get new perspectives and have a wonderful winter evening together.

For decades, the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) has been actively engaged in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Its member churches in Asia, Africa, and Germany conduct awareness campaigns, provide testing and counselling, and, where necessary, enable treatment. In Wuppertal, the UEM is part of the World AIDS Day working group, supporting its activities both through staff involvement and politically. UEM employees show solidarity by wearing the red ribbon on World AIDS Day.

Devotion on World AIDS Day

During the UEM’s International Devotion via Zoom, Berlina Sibagariang shared insights into the HIV/AIDS work of the HKBP* (Indonesia), while Godwin Ampony highlighted the efforts of the UEM. Berlina Sibagariang, who leads HKBP’s diaconal work on this topic, coordinates direct support for those affected, alongside educational initiatives and political campaigns at both local and national levels. Godwin Ampony, head of the Department for International Diakonia at the UEM, organises joint projects among UEM member churches, pools their resources, and fosters connections between them. Both are committed to the United Nations’ goal of achieving the “Three Zeros” by 2030:

• Zero new HIV infections
• Zero deaths related to HIV and AIDS
• Zero stigma and discrimination against those affected

According to the United Nations, this goal is achievable if the Human Rights of all people living with (or at risk of) an HIV infection are protected. This is the task for 2025 and the years to come. And it is the purpose of World AIDS Day.

*HKBP = Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (Christian-Protestant Church of the Batak, a UEM member church)