Lions, Tigers and Witch Doctors, oh my!

Above: A typical rural South African mud hut, and a wild lion at Hlange National Park. Both pictures taken November 2008.

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When it comes to fighting the AIDS pandemic, I'd take lions over a witch doctor any day! I know I had commented on how spiritual the people in Africa are, but I wanted to take a few minutes to explain that comment even more.

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I spent a few months in Uganda, Africa when I was in college. It was then that I first encountered how open Africans are to the spiritual world. We would lay hands on the sick (just like the Bible commands) and they would be healed. I personally layed hands on and prayed for a man with yellow fever in a hospital. He was deathly ill, didn't speak English, had his family all around, and I prayed for him. As I commanded his body to be well in the name of Jesus, I felt a searing heat go through my body into his. He started talking wildly and his daughter translated for him saying, "hot, hot, he says it is very hot coming from your arms".... after we prayed for him we went around to many other people and prayed for them. Then we came back to him, he was sitting up in his hospital bed, with a huge smile on his face...the fever broken, and he asked if we would share about God and Jesus who just had healed him. This kind of thing happened over and over again during my 2 month stay in Uganda. But back in the States, and even in Thailand on another missions trip, I didn't encounter physical miracles nearly as much as when in Africa.

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Americans? Typically we are hesitant and downright unbelieving when it comes to spiritual things. Many Americans want to see scientific proof of anything before they will believe it. So what I want to help you see is that the mindset of the Africans I have run into is exactly opposite. They believe spiritual things over scientific...thus one of the problems we have in helping them fight the AIDS pandemic. We think we can show them scientific proof that the way they are living is killing them, yet they value spirit over that information and they'll go to the witch doctor instead of a medical doctor to find out the cause of their sickness.

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The witch doctor tells them that instead of having HIV for example, that maybe their uncle has put a curse on them. Then, in giving advice to get rid of the curse, they might tell them to go rape a virgin woman. Because they value the advice of the witch doctor over the medical doctor, we cannot fight this disease through scientific literature or sexual education alone. We must battle in the spirit by showing them that the advice of the witch doctor is not truth, but a deceptive lie designed by Satan himself, with the purpose of keeping them in bondage.

Now I recognize that you may or may not be a Christian if you are reading this.... if you are, you know what I'm talking about. If you aren't, I ask you to keep an open mind, because I can tell you first hand that science alone will not fix this problem.

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One of the reasons it is hard to tell someone that the witch doctor is not the "doctor" they should be going to is because there is true demonic manifestations that happen and the people believe they are good and right. For example, I talked with a pastor who counsels people daily and he said that it is a common occurance for a woman's dead husband to show up in bodily form in her hut at night, sleep with her, and then be gone in the morning. The "sign" that it really was her dead husband is that there is a snake in the hut in the morning.

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This doesn't fit in the typical unbelieving scientific American's mindset...it just doesn't compute. But in Africa, this is power (though it is demonic) that is shown through the witch doctor, and you aren't going to tell that woman that her husband didn't appear. She believes it, and will therefore take the witch doctor's word over the medical doctor's, and there again, science means nothing to these people when they have seen the witch doctor's 'magic' work in front of their own eyes. And here, Satan has created a way to keep people in bondage and to keep them dying from AIDS/HIV.

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The power of God and the freedom from spiritual bondage has to be used as one way to combat the AIDS/HIV pandemic. More later.

START AT THE BOTTOM

If you're ready to read about the amazing things going on in Africa regarding the AIDS epidemic, please go to the first blog entry and go backwards to this point. I wish I could flip the blog entries around so that you're reading the first entry here, but I can't. It will all make more sense if you go to the end of the page and read the individual entries from bottom up to this point. Thanks!

FLAX LIGNAN FACTS

Here is a chart from one of the orphans who has AIDS but has been taking flax hull lignans for almost 2 years. It shows how his CD-4 counts have continually raised over time and continue to go higher!!! This is AMAZING and is only one out of many kids who have this testimony!

About Flax Hull Lignans. The founder of our organization was approached by a farmer who invented a process to extract and concentrate the lignans in flax seed. He wanted to see if the lignans would help people suffering from AIDS/HIV. We've been testing them on volunteers for years now and after hundreds of people have tried them, we've seen a 92% success rate with the typical response being viral loads dropping and CD-4 counts (measurement of immunity) skyrocketing. Above is a chart of one of the children who has been on the flax hull lignans.

Lignans are tiny particles in the shell only (none in the seed itself) that science has acknowledged does many beneficial things for your body. There are a few other companies making flax lignans, but they only extract the SDG lignan from the shell. The lignans we have include all the lignans in the flax shell (I think there are 20-30 different ones), and scientists from the University of North Dakota are telling us that all of the lignans work together to make a super - immune boosting substance. While the other companies have isolated just the SDG, these lignans work more effectively at what they do.

Here are some quotes from different U.S. organizations about flax lignans. They really are a super immune booster!

The FDA:
“Flax seed lignans have anti-tumor, anti-mittic, antioxidant and weak estrogenic activity, are
potentially the richest source of phytoestrogens in the human diet and may be linked to a low incidence of breast and colon cancer. Their significant ability to prevent cancer is recognized by the National Cancer Institute. In addition to having anti-cancer properties lignans also have anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungus properties.” *(Obermeyer W, et al (US Food and Drug Administration, center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Div. Contaminants Chem., Natural Products Branch), Meeting Of The Federation Of American Societies For Experimental Biology On Experimental Biology March/April, 1993, Faseb J (Fed Am Soc Exp Biol), A863, 1993

The Mayo Clinic:
“Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring compounds that lower circulating estrogens in your body. Flaxseed is particularly high in one phytoestrogen, lignan, which appears to decrease estrogen production and which may inhibit the growth of some breast
cancers.” - The Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/breast-cancer-prevention/WO00091/METHOD=print

The American Cancer Society:
“One study of 25 men with prostate cancer found that a low-fat diet along with ground flaxseed reduced serum testosterone, slowed the growth rate of cancer cells, and increased the death rate of cancer cells.”- The American Cancer Society. www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Flaxseed.asp?sitearea=ETO

You can order flax hull lignans at the AIDS Research & Assitance website: www.aidshivawareness.org or call 817-886-8108

GOOD NEWS: Healthy KIDS (even with AIDS)!

This is an orphanage in South Africa that was a welcome site. These kids have all been taking the flax hull lignans for years now and they are all so healthy and happy!!! Many of these kids have AIDS but you'd never know it. This is a real testament to how well the Flax Hull Lignans boost immunity and help those who are sick to feel good again!

Meet the TREE PEOPLE

In rural South Africa, I was introduced to the 'Tree People'. In this region of South Africa, there are fields and fields of trees grown to make chip board and paper. It's an amazing and beautiful site to see these man-made forests. They are a little peculiar though because the trees are all planted in perfect rows.

There are many groups of rural peoples that live amongst these trees. As a matter of fact, in the several acres of area that our contact works with, there are over 5000 people that live there. They are called "squatters". They don't own the land, but they can't be pushed off it either. They build simple mud huts with dirt floors and no electricity. If you follow the path through the trees you'll find groups of people in little clearings.

I took these photos. The child in the dirty sweater is a typical rural South African child. The woman in the photo isn't the child's mother, but is an aunt who is taking care of him. We had the privilege of praying with this woman.

This lady's brother (the child's father) had died several days before, most likely from AIDS. The picture of the mud hut with the muddy smudges on the windows is something they do when someone has just died. This lady was showing that her brother had just passed.

These are the people that we are wanting to get the flax lignans to. Before our trip, the contacts we were working with had only been giving the flax to orphans. We now gave permission to extend giving the flax into the rural areas, and this lady's area will be one of them. Because more and more people are buying flax hull lignans in the U.S. for their own immunity boosting and health reasons, it is enabling us to donate more and more of the flax lignans to people like this! It is truly exciting!

Reaching the people through spiritual avenues...

Most of these kids won't make it to age 18...

When we were in Southern Africa, we went to a rural school and handed out candy to about 300 kids. Here are a few photos of these beautiful children. They loved having their pictures taken and then viewing the pictures on the back of the camera (typical kids!) We interviewed their head mistress. She shared that probably 80-90% of these kids have AIDS/HIV and really no access to anti-retro virals (ARVs). The ARV's aren't practical either as they have to be refrigerated, and there is no electricity out in these rural areas.

These kids are several days walk from the nearest clinic and this is actually the case for nearly 80% of the people, as 80% live in rural areas like this. Unless something changes, most of these kids won't live to see 18. The life expectancy in this area is 35 years old.

One of the thing that excites me about working for A.R.A.I. is that we have a flax lignan program that is making a difference in areas like this. The flax lignans, when introduced into these kids diets, boosts their immunity and in many of them will drop their viral loads to non-detectable. They'll have a chance to make it to 18 years old...and hopefully long enough to educate them about how to stay alive and stop spreading the disease.

The head mistress of this school begged for help. She begged for materials to educate the kids. She asked for more than just sex education materials though. She told us how they needed to educate them spiritually because their deep beliefs in ancestral worship is keeping the people from learning the truth of how to keep AIDS away. She has specifically asked for Christian material to teach the kids about God and Jesus and the Bible, so that they can have truth that can set them free from the bondages of always having to 'appease' dead spirits.

The people are so consumed with keeping the spirits of dead ancestors happy. The people put their trust in the witch doctor and won't go to the medical doctor if they are sick. The witch doctor will tell them bogus things like to get rid of your sickness, you need to go rape a woman. This doesn't help keep AIDS away.

They are a deeply spiritual people and so to reach them, we must consider reaching them through spiritual avenues as well as educating them about healthy sexual practices.

**If you'd like to help and can donate Christian education materials, this teacher is begging for materials. We can get them to her if you have any to send. If you know anyone who owns a Christian bookstore or education supply store and they need to donate supplies as a tax write off, we can help with that as well. Contact me at: wendy@aidshivawareness.org if you'd like to help in this way.

This is one of about 100 schools in this little rural area we are working with. Educational materials are needed as well as Christian DVDs and videos. This teacher has access to a portable solar run machine that can play videos.

The need is overwhelming, but there is hope. If we chunk away at the problem, we can all make a difference.

The AIDS Pandemic....

Is the SUN Setting on Africa?

I just got back from Piet Retief, South Africa and Swaziland. People keep asking me about my trip and I am finding myself without the words to describe what I've experienced. I actually thought I'd be excited to share what I experienced, however I'm finding that the exact opposite has occurred and I am not wanting to tell anyone about it, because I don't feel that I can adequately describe what I saw. The whole scope of the AIDS pandemic is quite overwhelming.


One of the purposes of the trip was to do some HDTV filming for an infomercial that we're putting together, we accomplished that goal.


The other big goal was for me to see the work that is going on there so that I can communicate that well to others (which I'm still figuring out how to do) as I'm working now with AIDS Research & Assistance Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to help fight the AIDS/HIV pandemic problem in Africa.


The AIDS problem is truly pandemic. 5 years ago in Swaziland, the census showed 1.3 million people. This year's census showed 850,000. People are dying at the rate of thousands a day. To even begin to fix this pandemic problem, we're going to have to combat it on many levels.

Education is only a small slice of the solution. This battle is going to have to be fought in the mind, body and spirit. It's too big to be fought on just one or two planes, as I'll explain in further blogs.