A Rock in a Weary Land: AIDS, South Africa, and the Church

This article explores the contributing factors to the endemic problems exacerbating the AIDS crisis in South Africa. The legacy of Apartheid, including the attendant problems of poverty, illiteracy, and disparate health statuses between the beneficiaries and victims of Apartheid, is explored. Because women are bearing the brunt of the infection, their experience of AIDS is also considered. A brief case study illuminating an AIDS-sensitive church is offered as an exemplar of self-determination and social networks used to sustain a South African township riddled by HIV disease. The article concludes by suggesting that the benefits of communal religious participation as a coping response to HIV disease requires further examination by social work and public health workers in South African communities of color with minimal resources to combat HIV disease.

KEYWORDS

• South Africa,
• AIDS,
• Apartheid,
• poverty,
• church,
• women