Some 4,700 copies of the English version, entitled Living in Hope, had been distributed by the end of July. The report, submitted by the Rev Evariste Munyabarame, the O-21 Southern Africa Regional Manager, says:
“When you go into hospitals, those once bright, fresh faces are like those of old men and women yet they belong to young people who have been caught in the web of AIDS. This program is helping us to build hope in the lives of so many young people suffering from AIDS in the hospitals.”
Home-based
According to a recent report, one-fifth of Botswana’s entire population are infected with HIV. The Society also reports “positive responses” from its distribution to HIV/AIDS hospices and home-based care groups of infected people and their families. Prisoners, too, it says, have welcomed the booklet “with open hearts”, requesting copies daily, and many copies have been distributed to schools.
The booklet is available in Setswana as well as English, and young people from churches and other Christian organisations are helping to distribute it.
Radio
The Society has put radio to good use in publicising the Portion. “This has worked so well that great numbers of young people come to the Bible Society asking for ‘the AIDS booklet’,” says the report.
Botswana’s plans for its O-21 project include distribution of several other Portions. One, entitled Be the Best You Can Be, aims to encourage young people to see the best in themselves in the presence of God. The other, called simply Peace!, is designed to let young people know they are instruments of God’s peace.
“There are so many incidents of young people who are alcoholics or have other things that make their lives unpleasant just because they lack peace,” says the report.
