Not good enough

Brian Haill, President, The Australian AIDS Fund Inc., Frankston, Vic.

I refer to Caritas in PNG (OLC #104) the letter written by Jack de Groot, the CEO of Caritas Australia, in response to my concerns in OLC (AAFI calls for PNG HIV/AIDS help, OLC #102) at the plight of people struggling to live with HIV in Papua New Guinea.

His comments collide head on with his organisation's Mission Statement, which declares that Caritas Australia "as the Catholic Church's agency for aid and development gives expression to the Gospel imperative to pursue justice and help those suffering from poverty and disadvantage... through its life-giving activities of aid and development".

Mr de Groot says "... it is not appropriate for Caritas Australia to take over the job of government by feeding its patients, providing screens (for the dignity of those in hospital HIV wards) and burying the dead." He should blush at that!

Today's reality is that governments the world over - through a mix of dictatorship, the abuse of power, violence, poverty or whatever - have left their populations exposed to hunger, indignity and death. And it has been the global role of aid agencies to meet those very needs. Caritas Australia, by Mr de Groot's own statement, has now distanced itself from such responses: that should both surprise and dismay its supporters. It horrifies me.

The Franciscan priest in Port Moresby, Father Jude Ronayne-Forde, is the practical face of the church's compassion in regard to HIV on the streets there and in the hospital wards of Port Moresby. He's feeding HIV infected people who'd otherwise go hungry, burying the dead, and shielding the sick to protect their dignity. I'm with him and I have this overwhelming feeling that Jesus would be too.

You've squibbed it Jack. I challenge you to go to Port Moresby as a matter of urgency and see for yourself!

Brian Haill
President,
The Australian AIDS Fund Inc.,
PO Box 1347,
Frankston, VIC, 3199
Australia
Email: bhaill@bigpond.net.au
Website: www.aids.net.au