I teach people about HIV/AIDS because in this one African country alone, over 400 people are dying from AIDS every day. In Nairobi, mothers who are HIV positive abandon their babies—sneaking out of hospitals, leaving them at the police station, taking them to the gate of an orphanage. In Western Kenya, there are entire villages with no mothers or fathers—only children and grandparents.

In the tiny village of Kosikiria, it is likely that no one has HIV—but there are people with STDs. Apparently the Turkana are traditionally promiscuous. While there are very strict sexual boundaries for married women—they may only sleep with their husbands, men and unmarried women can be promiscuous as long as they are not caught. In a polygamous culture, the men are always looking for their next wife.

There are also men from the rural villages who fairly regularly drive the goats into town to sell. These men take the cash from the goats and buy the things that people have sent them into town to buy. While in town, many of these men will also spend a little cash on the services of a prostitute. These are the same prostitutes with whom the truck drivers and police from other parts of Kenya spend time.

I know for a fact that many of the men from the rural areas will sleep with prostitutes while in town. I even know of a church leader from a rural village who contracted an STD while attending a church leader meeting in Lodwar a few years ago. He didn’t know that could happen—he does now, and still suffers from recurring symptoms.

I have asked people what they teach their children about sex. The reality is chilling—people encourage their children to be sexually active. Everyone knows that older children are experimenting with each other, yet no one talks about it. The only consequences to be dealt with are when a girl gets pregnant. Then animals are exchanged and all is forgiven.

I teach about HIV/AIDS in Turkana so that some people won’t die from it. The only way that is going to happen is if people change their lifestyle and make choices that go against the current of their culture. What better place is there to teach about this than in the context of the church? It is the church in Turkana where people are making counter-cultural decisions to leave behind polygamy; where men are deciding it is no longer right for them to beat their wives or to think of their wives as property; where people are reading scripture together and deciding it is better to love your neighbor instead of steal from him.

If HIV becomes prevalent in the rural areas-- no, it is more accurate to say when HIV becomes prevalent in the rural areas, it will be the church that survives. It will be God’s people who will be taking care of the sick. It will be the children of God adopting the orphans. It will be the church leaders teaching the children how to live the full life that God wants us to live.

That is why I subject myself to teaching about HIV/AIDS to church leaders every year. To say the words and talk about specifics that cause grown men to giggle is the planting of the seed. I pray that the seed will grow to fruition.

There is so much fear in Kenya concerning HIV/AIDS. While some think the fear is what will save people, I disagree. The people of God should not be afraid—they should be educated so that they cannot only follow God’s plan for sex, but minister to others around them as well.

The good news of Jesus does not call us to live in fear-- we are free to live full lives in Christ!