Church hosts event to address HIV/AIDS crisis

The World Day of Prayer Committee of South Africa wrote the program.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
COLUMBIANA -- The theme "Sign of the Times" for World Day of Prayer could be interpreted as either a comment or question on the international situation of HIV/AIDS.
In either case, Church Women United and World Day of Prayer USA addressed the issue. The World Day of Prayer Committee of South Africa, where millions of people have HIV/AIDS and others are becoming infected daily, prepared this year's worship service.
Grace United Church of Christ, 140 S. Main St., hosted a gathering Friday that attracted about 50 people. Participating churches were First United Methodist, First Presbyterian, St. Jude, Zion Hill Church of the Brethren, and Jerusalem Lutheran. These churches were involved in the ecumenical movement whose prayers followed the sun across the globe during the day of celebration. About 170 countries and regions participated.
Physician's experiences
The keynote speaker, Dr. Joseph Mersol of North Lima, commented that Uganda is one African country that is confronting the HIV/AIDS crisis. "They are the only ones with open advertising on the subject," he said. "It involves being chaste, staying with one partner or using a condom." He wore a traditional Ugandan shirt detailed with embroidery, a gift from a friend who visited the country.
Other African countries and countries around the world are not doing nearly enough to deal with the HIV/AIDS situation, he said.
Both are signs of the times -- some people take the crisis seriously while others ignore it.
Now retired, Dr. Mersol was a family practitioner for some 40 years in Youngstown and Struthers. He said he treated one of the first HIV/AIDS patients in the area.
In 1982, he said he started treating a 25-year-old patient who was "sick all the time" and was hospitalized multiple times. "Tests indicated he didn't have enough white cells," Dr. Mersol said. But at the time, the reasons couldn't be determined. Eventually the patient died, and an autopsy revealed "no white cells," Dr. Mersol said. "He was defenseless."
More cases
Then word started to get out about other such cases, some from San Francisco. "We tested the young man's tissue samples and he had HIV," Dr. Mersol said.
As time went on, Dr. Mersol said he also worked at area nursing homes with HIV/AIDS patients, who needed the constant care these facilities could provide. "It was the Christian thing to do," he said. "I had no problem taking care of HIV/AIDS patients," he said. "I saw many from the homosexual population in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties."
Dr. Mersol said advances in treatment have been both beneficial and detrimental. The benefits, he said, are the treatments developed, including AZT and other medications, and awareness of how the disease is spread. On the down side, he noted, people think that now that there are medicines they can be less careful.
Dr. Mersol said he and his second wife, JoAnne, experienced firsthand the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS. "Her three sons all had hemophilia and died of complications," he said. They contracted the disease through tainted blood from the blood supply that included donations from people with HIV/AIDS. "They all died from complications of hepatitis C," he said.
Dr. Mersol concluded with the comment, "People need to use common sense in their relationships."
About South Africa
The program's worship segment noted that the people of South Africa are known as the "rainbow nation." The first democratic elections took place in 1994, and people live in a post-apartheid era, which the World Day of Prayer Committee of South Africa see as a "sign of God's grace."
The committee also noted that the "important role of a dignified, sharing community in our everyday lives is reflected in the popular expression of ubunta, an ancient African word meaning 'humanity to others.' The word also means 'I am what I am because of who we all are.'"
That idea that everyone in the world is connected was emphasized throughout the service. A poem of praise pointed out the "works of God" each have a job as big things, Drakensberg and Table mountains in South Africa; as tiny things, busy red ants and wriggling tadpoles; as sharp things, cactus thorns and high-heeled shoes; as soft things, a baby's skin and porridge; as sweet things, blueberry jam, young people's dreams and old people's wishes; as swift things, swallows and ambulances; as slow things, elephants and tortoises; as loud things, thunder and rain on aluminum roofs; as quiet things, gentle breezes and women who care and suffer and weep; as spiritual things, psalms, gospel praise and receiving God's gifts; and as created things, our planet, our galaxy and the universe.
A segment also dealt with problems faced by South Africans and people elsewhere -- unemployment, poverty, addiction, violence, unfaithfulness, loneliness and loss.
Who participated
CWU program participants were Judy Bott, organist; Sally Bricker, song leader; Ruthie Mitchell and Alice Rohrer, greetings and offering; Carol Czarneski, leader; Judy Nelson, Scripture readings; Miriam Hutson, Judy Stouffer, Marilyn Stillwell, Bernie Foester, Esther Tucker, Sarah Tipton and Mary Liggitt, leaders; and Cheryl Bell, sound system.
An offering to support World Day of Prayer and the HIV/AIDS ministries in South Africa and the United States was taken.