Thousands Rally for Abstinence
Universal Chastity Education (UCE) joined a rally of
thousands organized in the town center
of Kampala, Uganda and which took place over a
three-day period about eight weeks ago. It was organized
by a famous Ugandan abstinence supporter and
teacher, Pastor Martin Ssempa, and also by a musical
group called Papa San. They promoted abstinence and
be faithful through Christ. Andrew, our UCE
volunteer in Uganda, blogs,
"It
was a wonderful event
and everyone from UCE attended. The march started
at Constitutional Square. There were several
thousand students marching in an attempt to fight
off the stigma that surrounds abstinence. The
students and others marched through the streets
carrying signs and shouting abstinence related
slogans. We marched for several kilometers before we
reached a large open ground where a huge stage was
set up. The students were organized in
accordance with
the school they attended. Papa San and his group
then took over. They played Christian music, and had
many speeches about abstinence and abstinence
stigma. It was a wonderful event. It was good for
the UCE team to be involved in something of this
magnitude. I must admit, however, that I was a bit
confused as to what exactly UCE was doing if there
were groups such as these in Uganda. I asked this
question of my co-worker and his response was a
good reflection and reminder of the overall mission
of UCE. He explained to me
that although there are
large rallies in the city of Kampala
almost no one
tries to bring the message to the rural youth of
Uganda. The rural youth are often the ones who are
at the most risk because of societal and monetary
pressures. Quality sexual education in the rural
provinces is still a great need for Uganda, and UCE
is trying to fulfill this need."
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Did you know 6000 children are
orphaned daily by AIDS worldwide?... 62%
of the 39.5 million people with HIV live in
Sub-Saharan Africa? ...Young people between 15 and
24 account for 40 percent of new infections
worldwide? ... Every eight seconds a person is
infected with HIV somewhere in the world? These are
just a few of the
current grim statistics.
(WHO/UNAIDS 12/06)
Is there any good news? Yes! Uganda has had the
world's
most dramatic success against AIDS. The HIV
prevalence in Uganda has dropped from 21% in 1991 to
6.7% in 2005. If the Ugandan success can be
maintained, the world will see that the war against
AIDS can be won...the Ugandan way... with the simple
behaviors of
abstinence and being faithful in marriage. Read below
to see what UCE is doing.
Supporting UCE fights AIDS and
saves lives. Please consider a
year-end financial gift to
support UCE in this grass-roots effort
against AIDS. Link below to the website donation
page and make a tax-deductible contribution over the
secure server. With your donation, you will be
bringing the news of the
Ugandan success strategy to other countries, keeping the
Ugandan HIV prevalence rates low through UCE youth
outreaches and starting UCE activities in Burundi,
AFRICA.
You will be helping to win the
battle against
AIDS. May God Bless you for
caring.
Kim and Ken Dernovsek
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Volunteer Joins Youth Outreach
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UCE has an American volunteer on site in Uganda for
five months. Andrew writes to us from Kamuli,
Uganda, after observing his first UCE youth
outreach: "I
was impressed with the first day... each student we
are able to reach makes it worth the trip...Hopefully
they can spread the message, and the
others will benefit from the program"
Ten
schools in Kamuli area
were visited and
abstinence pledges were made by 504 youth, making a
total of 12,207 chastity commitments made through 2006
during UCE events. To find Kamuli, Uganda and
see where UCE went on the map, click below...
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UCE Prays on WORLD AIDS DAY
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December 1st World AIDS Day
Service of
Prayer was held at
Ascension Church, Pueblo, CO
Kim K. Dernovsek, MD gave
opening remarks at the service prior to the
all-night prayer vigil. Her remarks, excerpted,
follow:
Uganda, a developing world nation has come up with a
low-cost strategy for AIDS reduction. It was in the
post-Idi Amin and Milton Obote years, when American and
European organizations still could not be there to
fund an
"effort" or provide the "solution". The Ugandan
community joined together and the people of faith
played a key role. The Ugandan strategy was later
named the ABC model; it focused primarily on
the A
and the B, which were Abstinence and
Being Faithful.
What Ken and I found in Uganda in 2003 and 2004,
were churches that were overflowing, no matter the
denomination. And, regardless of the person's walk
of life-whether cab driver, doctor, church leader,
school teacher or political leader, young, old, male
or female- all spoke of tackling AIDS with PRAYER.
They spoke of "getting tested" and of then
supporting each other as results came in. They
described how when 1 of every 3 people had AIDS,
they were in church "all the time" already, with
funerals because without medication a person with
AIDS lives about six years. They said, "We went to
our knees".The Ugandan success began with prayer and
all-night
prayer vigils.This is the light they are shining to
us. In the battle against AIDS, they view prayer as
most important, not least important. So, What better
day than World AIDS day to follow the Ugandan lead
and approach the scourge of AIDS on our knees with
prayer?
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Prevent AIDS: Support UCE
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Universal Chastity Education, Inc. (UCE) is an
educational organization established in 2004 and
determined to be a public charity, status 170 (b) (1)
(A) (vi), exempt from Federal income tax under
section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Its
purpose is to promote through education sexual
abstinence until marriage and marital fidelity as
healthy lifestyles free from sexually transmitted
diseases including HIV and AIDS. UCE operates in
Uganda,
AFRICA, with staffed headquarters in
Kampala and most youth outreach/educational
events take
place in rural Uganda. Universal Chastity Education,
Inc. is duly registered under the Republic of Uganda
Non-governmental Organisations Registration Statute,
1989, certificate #6196. UCE activities launch in
Burundi, AFRICA
in 2007.
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