REVOLUTION IN REVIVAL
I have been working in HIV for twenty five years. Frankly I am tired of it. It seems unending. There are more people employed in the HIV field, more professors, more research, more organizations, programs – HIV has become a vast industrial complex. Yet in the entire time I have been doing HIV prevention work I have never met a pastor or a priest who allowed us in their church to do this work. I must mention the church in Detroit that welcomed us but no one came. I must mention the many pastors who have encouraged us and praised us but then handed us over to the youth committee, or the deacon or the board but never were we able to meet the congregation. We did this in the early days in South Africa (although this has changed) in the Caribbean, and in the United States. In all fairness however, many of these churches did offer prayers for those afflicted with AIDS. There are many analyses and pontifications about this, but dear reader, I spare you them.
We come now to Negril, a spot in Jamaica that I rarely visit but had our small vacation there because it was an hour and a half from St. Elizabeth where we were teaching. Essentially it is the spectacular beach of Negril one of the world’s best, with tourist accommodations all along this beach. We checked into Charela Inn a small but wonderful place and I meet the owner Mr. Grizzle who is a rare black Jamaican owner and we immediately begin to chat. I tell him about our project (Kim has written a dispatch about him) and that I do not want the students to have all three days just relaxing, that they must do at least one day’s work. He told me that he will get in touch with the inspector of police and we can teach their youth groups. I was elated. The next morning I get a call that Mr. Grizzle has gotten in touch with Father Bernard the priest at the Catholic Church who I must meet to discuss my project. I was deflated. I tell myself that I should really let them have these few days since they had worked hard. There is no way this priest will let us teach HIV to his congregation.
I meet Father Bernard. He is young, he is a Catholic Priest from PAKISTAN !
Tonya went with me for support in my expected rebuff. With trepidation we tell him what we are doing. He is delighted and tells us he loves his people and they love him and he wants us to tell them the truth. We must come on Wednesday and that he will put all fifteen students in the back of his truck and take them to his congregation in a place called Revival in the hills of Westmoreland. I still was skeptical but had become completely mesmerized by his unexpected truth. And he did exactly what he said, packed us all up in his truck and struggled up the hills to the community of Revival. They came, the old, the young, the women and men and the students taught them, even though they were relentlessly pursued by mosquitoes. They made speeches and told us how they appreciated the students and that they had learned so much.
For me this night in Revival was revolutionary. It was the first time that a priest in twenty five years of HIV work , allowed us to speak truth to his congregation.
I thank Father Bernard and I also thank that quiet revolutionary man Mr. Grizzle.
Did I tell you that Father Bernard gave us all rings from Pakistan the moment we arrived at his home?
Yours in Revival,
Nesha Z. Haniff
