Rev Dr Wycherley Gumbs, Superintendent Minister of the Anguilla Methodist Circuit, and Chairman of the Anguilla Christian Council, is taking a keen interest in the faith-based campaign against HIV/AIDS in which a number of Evangelical churches are involved.
He was among a number of Pastors from various participating churches at the launch of Phase 2 of Project HOPE at No Walls Church of Hope in The Farrington on Sunday evening, September 28. Project HOPE is an initiative of the Anguilla Community Action Network.
“It [The campaign against HIV/AIDS] is very important. I was involved in the campaign in St Kitts as part of the Christian Council and the Methodist Church,” Rev Dr Gumbs told The Anguillian. “Coming home, we recognise the need to have our members, leaders and stewards aware of HIV/AIDS and, of course, our community aware of the importance of getting involved – but getting informed properly because the silent killer is still with us and will be for a long time. It is therefore a call to us to come together as Christian bodies, Christian communities and Christian Churches, to work together to train ourselves and to be able to influence our children and our communities so that we can overcome, and indeed eradicate, this scourge.”
He stressed that it would be necessary for all churches, the Christian Council and ACAN to work together because unity is strength. “We just cannot do it ourselves. The more we get together, the better we are, and the stronger we are,” he stated.
Asked how he saw HIV/AIDS as a threat within the Church, he replied: “Church people are part of the community, some have AIDS, some will have AIDS and it will affect their families, their income, their lifestyle. The stigma affects not only the person, but the family; and many families go into hiding, as it were, so therefore we need to be able to educate persons so that we can stand up and say let’s work together for a cure. This means money, involvement, and accepting others as they are, and for who they are, and try to do as much as possible to heal their situation and heal ourselves as well.”
What message the Methodist Circuit’s Superintendent, and Chairman of the Anguilla Christian Council, has for the wider public? “Let us get involved. Knowledge is power,” he said. “In Anguilla, it is not only politics that is power, but knowledge about social life and illnesses – whether it is AIDS, whether it is cancer, whether it is glaucoma. Whatever the issues are, knowledge is power and we can empower one another. That is very important.”
