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Short Synopsis of My Experiences Traveling With By Andrew Fotheringham "What things would you struggle to cope with if you were taken back some 2000 years in time to be with our brothers and sisters in the first century AD?
In Africa today these problems are made even worse by the fact that thousands of children are living in a world with one or no parents. This is largely the result of the AIDS virus which in many African countries has left such a large number of orphans that it is beyond governments and local communities already living in poverty to effectively deal with this problem. The 2008 UN report on the global AIDS epidemic states that ‘worldwide, it is estimated that more than 15 million children under 18 have been orphaned as a result of AIDS. Around 11.6 million of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa. In countries badly affected by the epidemic such as Zambia and Botswana, it is estimated that 20 percent of children under 17 are orphans - most of whom have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The loss of a parent to AIDS can have serious consequences for a child’s access to basic necessities such as shelter, food, clothing, health and education. Orphans are more likely than non-orphans to live in large, female-headed households where more people are dependent on fewer income earners. This lack of income puts extra pressure on AIDS orphans to contribute financially to the household, in some cases driving them to the streets to work, beg or seek food.’ This report can be viewed here
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For
the average person daily life in that era was so different from
what we experience in the western world today. A sobering fact that
hardly seems real to many of us is that many of mankind today live
in a world more closely resembling first century Palestine than
resembling today’s western world. For the majority of people
living today the issues listed above have hardly changed in 2000
years. 
In
May I personally was able to travel to Kenya and see first hand
the work that Agape in Action is undertaking to help some of the
children in contact with the Christadelphian community who are suffering
from poverty and hardship and in many cases the loss of parents.
I can report that the efforts of Agape in Action and those of you
who contribute to the work of this charity are having a very positive
effect on the lives of many children and those in the community
who are carers of these children. The sponsorship that many of you
have undertaken is making a big difference. Children who have never
been to school are now proudly wearing a uniform and going off to
school. Carers now have funds to ensure children don’t go
to sleep hungry and cold at night. Some of our brothers and sisters
have been providing amazing levels of help and care with such a
small amount of resources. The financial support you provide through
Agape in Action has given these local carers and workers both the
financial help so desperately needed as well as the knowledge that
others out there in our community do really care. 
There
is still a lot of work that needs to be done to help these communities.
On our trip we visited about 15 ecclesial halls – only one
had any water – a rain water tank donated in 1999 by Meal
a Day. Nearly everywhere we went children were suffering from dehydration.
Access to clean water is a very large problem. Carers often have
to walk many kilometres everyday to fetch water – and often
the water is dirty. We visited an ecclesia where 2 members had died
the previous week from an unknown sudden illness. Water borne disease
was the most likely cause of death. Agape in Action is looking at
ways to address this problem and will need financial support to
undertake this work. We hope to have a suitably qualified person
from our community on the ground in Kenya in 2009 working on local,
practical solutions to this problem. 
