Global AIDS Initiative
The Global AIDS Initiative team exists to mobilize the community at Cherry Hills to share the love and compassion of Christ with those infected and affected by AIDS locally, nationally and globally, through awareness, education and empowerment.
This team supports ministry at a local, national and global level. Supported ministries include HIV Care Link, a Denver ministry to those affected by HIV, Kerus Global Ministries, a Virginia-based ministry that develops HIV/AIDS awareness training curriculum, and missionaries in Kenya and Uganda.
A new partnership in Uganda
Recently, we've been praying about a partnership between Cherry Hills Community Church and World Vision to focus on the region of Gulu, Uganda. We believe God is calling us into relationship with two communities there. Members of the Global AIDS Initiative team have traveled there to prepare for our ministry partnership—and after seeing the enormous need, we cannot turn our backs.
Gulu is a northern region of Uganda that borders Sudan and has been ravaged by 22 years of civil war with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA has terrorized Gulu by raiding communities in the middle of the night and kidnapping children as young as age six to become soldiers or “wives” of soldiers. It is estimated that approximately 45,000 children have been abducted by the LRA over the course of this rebellion.
Desperate needs of a displaced people
As a result of the insecurity of the Gulu region, many people moved or were forced by the Ugandan government to move to Internally Displaced People Camps. Until recently, about 90% of the population of Uganda lived in these camps, which lack sanitation and prevent families from fulfilling their livelihood as small-scale farmers. Consequently, they have been forced to live off of foreign aid, and many children don’t have any memory of their former village life. The entire fabric of their society has been disrupted with many consequences—cultural, societal, economic and spiritual. Many people in the region have lost hope for the future.
In the midst of this upheaval, HIV/AIDS infection in Gulu is more than double the rate in the rest of Uganda. There are many child-headed households because both parents have died of diseases caused by AIDS. These children work hard to care for siblings and are often left vulnerable and exploited.
God's presence in compassion
But God is present and at work in Gulu. Through the compassion of Cherry Hills Community Church, we are bringing HOPE to these communities. Thus far, we’ve sponsored about 750 children who are receiving support through World Vision. For about a dollar a day, a sponsorship provides the basics of life—such as clean water, healthcare and education—that truly change the life of a child and the community as a whole.
Our partnership in Gulu also extends the grace of the Gospel to people who desperately need HOPE.
HOPE moves
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners ...."
—Isaiah 61:1
Global AIDS Initiative Contact