An Old Testament prophet inspires 21st century action in Africa

"And what does the Lord require of you?" asks the Old Testament prophet Micah. "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God," comes the reply in Micah 6.8.

|PIC1|It was with this in mind that Micah Challenge UK's new Executive Director Andy Clasper headed out to Zambia for the first time in August. There, Christians are living out this biblical mandate through their work to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS and care for the infected and affected alike.

In a country as stunningly beautiful as Zambia, resplendent landscapes and scenes of wildlife undoubtedly make for easier viewing than the jarring reality of poverty. The view of a large gleaming lake from the lodgings at Sinazongwe, on the shores of Lake Kariba, was initially "thrilling".

The thrill soon wore off, however, when Andy discovered that tens of thousands of local Tonga people had been displaced to create the lake in the late 1950s as part of a hydroelectric energy-creation plan. Micah Challenge partner World Vision is still in the region today, trying to remedy the damage to the wellbeing of these people and their descendants that the relocation caused.

Any lingering notions of an earthly paradise were soon dispelled after a meeting with Sinazongwe's Director of Health. While tourists regularly enjoy luxury safaris and fishing tours on the flourishing Lake Kariba and nearby Zambezi River, he would be happy if the government could satisfy his very modest wish for six trucks.

As it is, there is only one truck to cover the entire area, home to around 110,000 people. This inevitably means that the truck's use changes according to the need of the moment. At times, it is an ambulance; on other occasions, it is a vehicle for transporting doctors and health supplies.

The meeting was a reality check for Andy, who left his job at the Mayor of London's office earlier in June to join Micah Challenge - a global movement of thousands of Christians. Those Christians are all lobbying their governments to ensure that extreme global poverty really is halved by 2015 - the target date of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These are a set of eight promises made by world leaders which include halving the number of people who live on less than a dollar a day and halting the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Andy says: "Even in that first meeting I started to be struck by the reality of poverty. I asked the health director what he would wish for if he could ask the president for anything. His reply was six trucks. For the want of six trucks there are people in this part of Zambia who have never had medical care, they can't be reached."

Grassroots organisations are doing their best to make up for the shortfall in medical facilities. Under the World Vision-facilitated Community Care Coalition (CCC), volunteers are going directly to people infected with HIV and AIDS to care for them in their own homes, often bringing additional food and clothing.

Tragically, a large extent of the CCC's work goes into caring for some of the 710,000 children in Zambia who have been orphaned as a result of AIDS.

"It felt strange that so much of their work was focused on orphans, because we don't have a problem with orphans in the UK," says Andy after a meeting with 24 CCC volunteers. "Then a statistic I'd read earlier really came alive for me: average life expectancy in Zambia is 37. Some people will live longer, but some will die even younger. That's going to leave vulnerable children - a lot of them."

Since 2002, the Zambian Government has driven forward an ambitious antiretroviral treatment programme and small inroads are being made into the prevailing high HIV rates.

|PIC2|"Before they understood HIV and AIDS properly, they couldn't properly diagnose what was wrong with patients. There were people who were just getting sick all the time and they weren't sure why," says Andy after a visit to a special HIV and AIDS unit. "Once they fully understood the disease they could prescribe antiretroviral drugs which were a phenomenal success, with people returning to health within weeks."

In a country where two-thirds of the population still lives on just $1 a day and 17 per cent of adults are HIV positive, the church is a vital source of medical and spiritual care.

Its comforting presence is made even more indispensable in light of the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS within Zambian society. Victims, particularly women, can find themselves labelled sexually immoral and ostracised from their communities and families.

Channels of Hope is a Christian project that enables local churches to go out into their communities to more effectively meet the needs of the people around them, particularly those affected by HIV and AIDS.

"I was so impressed by these guys, by the way they led their congregations and communities and the way they were looked to by government as key influencers in society," says Andy, a Newcastle native who now lives in South London and is a member of Queens Road Church, Wimbledon.

Micah Challenge Zambia has been up and running since August, and during his six-day visit, Andy had the chance to take part in the movement's regional launch in the Copperbelt area. Again, what impressed on him most keenly was the influence of the church within Zambian society.

"A highlight of the trip was being part of that meeting and realising what vital work the church in Zambia is doing, how it forms a skeleton for society, keeping the country upright. It was inspirational," he recollects. "I thought to myself 'if only the church in the UK could see itself in this way'."

What is more, the 'God's wrath' rhetoric of the Zambian church in the eighties has since given way, through years of HIV and AIDS education and a growing understanding of the virus, to a language of hope in Jesus.

At the Sinazongwe Christian Fellowship, Andy was able to hear first hand the message of the church today from a Channels of Hope pastor who preached the comforting message of a Jesus who spent time with the poor, the sick, the lame and the lepers.

|PIC3|"I got a real sense that they were involved in the same work as we were," says Andy. "I really appreciated the power of what Micah Challenge is. It's about the church being a body, the body of Christ."

That body of Christ is what makes the struggles of Christians in one part of the world so keenly felt by others who may be thousands of miles away. On 14 October, churches in the UK and worldwide will celebrate Micah Sunday, a day for Christians to reflect not only on the existence of injustice in the world, but also the practical steps they can take to alleviate it.

The worldwide HIV and AIDS pandemic is the focus of this year's Micah Sunday in the UK and churches will be asking the Government to take greater action on this issue.

The prophet Micah asks, "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Andy says: "The challenge for believers has always been to act justly in the face of injustice, to show mercy where there is neglect, and to walk humbly with God where there is only self-interest."

The challenge is not lost on the Christians encountered by Andy in Zambia, the very ones who experience poverty's jagged edge every single day.

When Andy returned to the UK, he brought with him a special appeal from the pastors in Zambia. He says: "They asked me to bring a message to the church in the UK: they were doing all they could and asked that we do the same - supporting charities and speaking to government - so that together we could tackle HIV and AIDS."

To find out more about Micah Sunday visit www.micahchallenge.org.uk