The 34-member body met last week to draft its proposals for the reshaping of Anglican theological education, as mandated by the Primates in 2002.
Brisbane member of the TEAC, Elizabeth Appleby, said after the visits to the HIV/AIDS projects that the work of churches alongside people living with AIDS was a sign of “hope in the midst of despair” because it showed unconditional acceptance of people when they were most vulnerable.
TEAC members visited numerous projects, arranged by the Rev. Marlene Rodda, a deacon in the diocese and coordinator of the diocese’s social responsibility programmes.
Wednesday morning was spent with two community-based projects run by Anglican churches in the Diocese of Highveld, east of Johannesburg.
The first visit was to All Souls’ Parish in Tsakane, a major centre for home-based care and HIV/AIDS counselling, and a day care centre for children affected by AIDS.
One stop for the team included a visit to the parish’s Tsepo-Hope Project – endorsed and supported by the South African Departments of Health and Social Welfare. The project has been described as the “flagship” of non-governmental HIV/AIDS programmes in South Africa.
According to Project coordinator Flower Boyi, the centre’s main activity was to send volunteer home-based care workers (HCWs) into the community, both to visit people in the advanced stages of AIDS-related illnesses each day, and to help their families to care for them.
Struggling families receive food parcels each month, while the HCWs are supported by parish-based counsellors.Children orphaned by AIDS-related diseases, as well as children who are HIV positive themselves, are fed and cared for at the parish day care centre.
The Rev. Ziphozonke Mnyandu said on welcoming the TEAC group to All Souls that the church’s role was to be servants of the wider community.
