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Third Week of Lent: Solidarity Will Transform the World
 Tanzania
This week we visit Tanzania, home to Mount Kilimanjaro and
Lake Victoria in East Africa. Here CRS puts a strong emphasis on HIV and AIDS
programming, including outreach to children who have lost one or both parents
to AIDS. Like many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania has a high
number of adults living with HIV; about 1 million are affected by the virus
which causes AIDS. CRS' programs helps people with HIV and their extended families.
Children orphaned by the disease are assisted in receiving an education and
learning a trade, and receive counseling and other supports.
Pray
Jesus was intrinsically bound to God as his Father. So when
he saw merchants making a marketplace of God's house, it affected him deeply.
In fact, it resonated with his understanding the he, himself, was also the temple of God. Despite the indignities that Jesus would suffer in his body, he knew that
any place where God dwelled could not be destroyed. In your prayer this week,
reflect on your physical place in the body of Christ. How are you caring for
the temple that is your body? How are you making room for God to dwell within?
Pray too for those who are suffering in body, especially those living with HIV
and AIDS.
Fast
As you reflect on the ways that God dwells in you this week,
make a point of caring for your body. Fast from the things that harm it, such
as too little sleep, unhealthy food, too little exercise. Offer your fast in
thanksgiving for the dignity that God has placed in you.
Learn
The AIDS pandemic has left
behind 2 million orphans in Tanzania. Working
with local community- based partners, Catholic Relief Services will support 51,925
of these orphans and other vulnerable children affected by HIV. The work is
aided through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Sophia
Nyoni is among those who have benefited from such programming. She lost her
father 10 years ago. But it was only after her mother's death six years later that
she learned that both her parents had died of AIDS. From the time she was 16,
she received support from the Orphans and Vulnerable Children program in the
Archdiocese of Songea. The project provided her with food, education
opportunities, counseling services, life skills training, housing and health
care. After she graduated from high school, Sophia began to volunteer with the
CRS program, where she uses the computer skills she learned in school to
provide data entry.
Give
CRS has been serving orphans and
other children affected by the HIV pandemic in Tanzania since 2004. This week
consider putting a dollar in your Rice Bowl for each year that CRS has
been responding to the needs of these children.
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