Yunnan province of China is an area that contains a high number of HIV/AIDS cases. In the past years, CEDAR has mobilized many local church leaders to recognize the importance of integral mission. They became more aware of their responsibility to care for the poor in the community, including those living with HIV/AIDS and their families. CEDAR works with the local church so that the church leaders, seminary students and Christians will not only learn about integral mission, but also understand more about HIV/AIDS, enabling them to be able to express and demonstrate their love for the poor and needy in the community. In addition, the project includes opportunities to work with HIV/AIDS victims and their families in income generation activities, in hope they would escape from the bonds of poverty through increasing their income.
A widow and her two children live in a village in Yunnan. When the villagers discovered that her husband had died from AIDS, they began trying to force the family to move out of the village. After receiving news about this particular case, the local church pastor, who had taken part in CEDAR’s integral mission and HIV/AIDS training, visited the widow and her children with a few other brothers and sisters from the church. Their visit brought great joy to the family. Afterwards, the pastors not only corrected the villagers’ inadequate knowledge of the ways of HIV/AIDS transmission, but also, along with the church body, put their preaching into practice, paying frequent visits to that family – eating with them, helping them farm their land – and overall creating a wonderful testimony. As a result, the villagers gradually accepted the widow and her children. In addition, the pastors also assisted the family in seeking help from the local women group, receiving monthly subsistent funding to relieve them from poverty, and most importantly, allowing them to carry on living in the village with dignity.