My wife and I were on the road last week, not on college business, which is what usually takes us out of town, but to visit her parents, who live in Quarryville, PA. While en route, we received the sad news that one of our students, Ben Entwistle, became extremely ill and then died. Ben, a rising junior and a roommate of our son David, was with his family in Kenya where they serve with African Inland Mission. Ben had had some previous health problems, but seemed to be doing very well, participating in the men’s soccer program at Covenant and enjoying a lively life on campus.

While in Kenya Ben developed a severe bacterial infection which progressed so rapidly that it was necessary to med-evac him to another location for emergency surgery. With his father Dan at his side, Ben died on board the airplane as they were approaching Johannesburg, South Africa. Click to continue »

In a Washington Post op-ed (June 30, 2008), the Rev. Sam Ruteikara, co-chair of Uganda’s National Aids-Prevention Committee, writes about the impact of the impending implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for HIV-AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

I strongly encourage you to click on the link and read Rev. Ruteikara’s essay in full. It includes a stinging indictment of PEPFAR as presently structured, which would, according to Rev. Ruteikara, undermine the remarkable progress that the Ugandans themselves have made in reducing the incidence of HIV-AIDS primarily through programs that promote abstinence, discourage casual sex, and encourage sexual faithfulness in marriage. PEPFAR represents the triumph of profiteering and cultural hegemony over effective prevention and cultural respect.

Under the guise of partnership with Africans in AIDS prevention, PEPFAR represents a failure or, worse, an imperial refusal to respect the Ugandans’ understanding of their own culture and to recognize the powerful impact that the Ugandans’ approach has had. Click to continue »