During his visit, hosted by Yvonne Kavuo, the local director, Peter met some of the church leaders who are now working closely with ACET to mobilise their churches into care, education and training in the struggle against HIV and AIDS.

The DR Congo has high rates of HIV infection, whilst recent conflict, together with stigma, ignorance and poverty all create the potential for the pandemic to spread even faster.

However, during his trip, Peter met church leaders playing their part to reverse the spread of HIV.  Pastor Malala Mprusi Pamys is one such; a senior leader in the Congolese Baptist Church, who run over 800 schools, reaching over 1 million children in the western Congo.  Yvonne persuaded Pastor Malala to call into an ACET training session for half an hour, but, so impressed was he that he stayed for the full seven days, and is now actively involved in mobilising his church members and schools in this work.

Peter commented:

'Pastor Malala's example goes to the heart of what is possible when ACET motivates the local church to get involved in HIV and AIDS work.  I am looking forward to seeing all that develops through this new relationship between ACET D R Congo and Communauté Baptiste du Congo.'

To find out more about the work in D R Congo, click here