Stephen Lewis is coming to inform, inspire
and ignite!
It's so hard to sit on the sidelines and feel powerless.
It's even harder
to figure out how to do something. Though we live in the land of milk
and
honey, we are faced with our own national dilemmas. But across the ocean,
the continent of Africa houses the most disadvantaged people in the
world.
Because it's complex, partly political, partly climate, partly sociological,
partly religious... the problems of Africa feel too big, too remote
and too
chaotic to be tackled on a local level. I mean, what can we do here,
about
Africa?
We've always had a leader in Stephen Lewis. Canadian by birth, Stephen
Lewis is a household name to most of us over the age of 35. We know
him as
a politician, a humanist, the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations.
We
know him as the former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. We know
him
as a scholar-in-residence, as the deliverer of the Massey lectures,
as the
recipient of 24 honorary university degrees. We know him as a companion
of
the Order of Canada. Time Magazine recently named Stephen Lewis as one
of
the 100 most influential people in the world.
On and on and on. Stephen Lewis' book, Race Against Time, cleverly
and
thoroughly lays out the horror of life in Africa. The final lecture
in the
book gives us hope. Stephen Lewis' Foundation is aimed at the heart
of
AIDS, at its preventability, at its sheer rape of generations of young
people. The foundation exists to ease the plight of women (deaths of
mothers impact entire generations), to assist orphans, to support the
grandmothers who are now burying their own children and caring for their
orphan grandchildren. The Foundation helps groups of people living with
HIV
and AIDS.
It does this with simple grass-roots programs that give power for change
to
the ordinary person.
Many programs. Much hope.
Five United Churches in Barrie have joined energies to bring Stephen
Lewis
and his message to Barrie on Sunday, October 14. At 1:30 pm he'll walk
onto
the stage of the auditorium at Central Collegiate. About 1,000 people
will
hear him speak, from the deepest part of his soul. And none of us will
ever
be the same.
This Barrie movement is designed to develop a specific project right
here, a
project that will engage the energies and creativity of local people
who
want to be able to make a difference.
For years now I've been telling the stories of people who do make a
difference... Carol Warnica (March 27, 2005) and Seamus Feeney (December
3,
2006) both direct their energies to Africa. The whole point of Stephen
Lewis' foundation is to make it possible for people to do small things,
small things which grow to a groundswell of support for a continent
ravaged
by life.
Inform, Inspire, Ignite... the theme of Lewis' October 14 talk, promises
to
do just that. Speaking to all age groups, Stephen Lewis will highlight
holes and ways to fill them. While he informs, he doesn't depress...
he
inspires and opens doors for change.
It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving. You will have made soup from your
turkey leftovers. You will have celebrated with family our remarkable
good
fortune in this country. And just 7 days later, you can take the next
step.
Tickets ($30 for adults, $15 for students) go on sale to the public
tomorrow
and next Saturday, September 29 from 9 am to 12 noon, at Central United
Church, Ross and Toronto streets. Phone 737-3612. This is a life-changing
opportunity for us... and for Africa.
See you there.
Thanks, to all the United Churches for putting this together.
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