Monthly Archives: June 2009

Aids 2031: 5% for the future

June 26, 2009 in Church, HIV/Aids, Justice, Life, Youth, Youth participation

Rebekka Højmark Jensen writes her last report about the youth summit of Aids 2031 (after the first posts here and here):

“Last day on the AIDS2031 Youth Summit. After some very intense days together with other young leaders this day was spent in company with established leaders i the fields of AIDS work, media and politics. The idea was to create ways to promote youth participation at all levels in decision making in the field of HIV and AIDS. Moreover, the goal was to secure support for youth led organisations. Whilst young people are already running organisations on their own initiative, they often have poor access to funding. The established funds do not have a policy to support youth led organisations seperately. However, this summit has made it perfectly clear that youth led organisations have a very special role to play in the fight against HIV and the stigma connected to it: Young people hold the key to communicate to other young people; Young people have the passion to do great things with few resources. As a result, young people are the ones who can turn over the situation and make way for a world in 2031 with less HIV infections, with less stigma and with less descrimination of positive people.

To change the situation, this AIDS2031 Youth Summit introduced a campaign called ”5% for the Future”. Very simply to call upon foundations to allocate 5% of their budget to youth led organisations!

I am really thankful that I had the opportunity to attend this meeting. Many very skilled and powerful people, both young and less young, reached enormous results during these few days in Norway. I leave a piece of my heart with each and every person who took part in the summit. I know we all share a common hope for the future and I leave from Gardermoen Airport with one big lump of this hope. God bless you all.”

No Comments »

Aids 2031: Are churches ready to fight stigma?

June 24, 2009 in Church, Faith, HIV/Aids, Justice, LWF, Youth, Youth participation

Here is the second contribution (here is the first one) of Rebekka Højmark Jensen who currently attends the meeting of Aids 2031:

“The AIDS2031 Youth Summit is rolling on its second day. I am on the working group discussing how we can create safe spaces for youth HIV positive people. Spaces to talk, grieve, cry, scream, or simply just to be. One of the main solutions, as we see it, is to address schools, government and religious communities to secure that there will be safe spaces in the local environment. I find it devastating how many people have been excluded from there religious community because their status as HIV positives was revealed. Most of all this keeps people, who are actually religious, away from practicing their religion, from celebrating their life as given by God and from listening to the Gospel that tells us that God walks with us on our journey in life. This also creates a great ditch between the churhces and the HIV/AIDS organisations. The dialogue is extreemly challenged because the confidence between people living with HIV and the churches has been broken. I hope that in 2031, the inclusion of people living with whatever type of illness will be normal in religious communities all over the world. The ways to get there are many. First of all, I think we should see the other person as a person before anything else.

This Youth Summit is also a step on the way. It takes many aspects into account and will result in some very concrete plans for how to approach the issues of stigma and discrimination towards young positive people from now on and untill 2031.”

2 Comments »

Aids 2031- Young adult conference in Norway

June 23, 2009 in Church, Europe, HIV/Aids, Life, LWF, Youth, Youth participation

Aids 2031 is a global coalition that wants to make sure that there a real changes in the global fight against the virus. Currently, a small conference of young leaders is taking place in Oslo, Norway.

The website says: “aids2031, in collaboration with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit, will hold a 2nd Young Leaders Summit in Oslo 23-25 June, 2009 to unite young leaders in the ongoing fight against AIDS related stigma and discrimination.”

On behalf of the Lutheran World Federation Rebekka Højmark Jensen, a young Lutheran theologian from Denmark is taking part in the conference. She writes:

“2031 is the year when HIV and AIDS has been with us for 50 years. The AIDS2031 is about what we have to do now to change the face of the pandemic in 2031. I came to the Youth Summit arranged by the consortium behind AIDS2031 with open ears to hear what the challenges are among the young people living with HIV today. The meeting started this morning, and already I am full of impressions. One person at my own age telling about being the only person in her family who is not positive which is why she can travel to Norway for this conference. Another girl, ten years younger than me, who was born with HIV and has had to live with heavy discrimination and stigmatisation since childhood. Others who spent a fortune on AIDS work because funding is not available for youth work.

Tomorrow we will discuss some solutions to carry forward. It will be demanding and productive because everyone is here to gain and give.”

6 Comments »

LWF Youth Internship in Geneva 2010

June 19, 2009 in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Church, Europe, Faith, HIV/Aids, Justice, Latin America/Carribean, Life, North America, Poverty, Spirituality, Youth, Youth Ministry, Youth participation

2010 is going to be a busy year for the Lutheran World Federation. The end of July, it will have its 11th General Assembly in Stuttgart, Germany. Close to one thousand people will come together to learn, celebrate and make important decisions. 20% of the delegates will be young people under 30 years.

Already before that around 180 young people will meet for one week in Dresden, another German city to find a unifying vision for young Lutherans globally. In order to do that we need the help of a young person from a member church of the Lutheran World Federation. This intern will be invited to come to Geneva from February to November 2010. The main task will be to learn and build capacitiy to support the church back home. This will happen in the preparations for the both LWF conferences in July 2010.

If you want to learn more about this opportunity, please click here.

17 Comments »