CALGARY, Alberta -
"It's lovely to be here in the presence of so many people who spend so much of their time facilitating social justice," Lewis told 2,500 delegates during Monday's opening session.
Lewis, the former head of Canada's New Democratic Party and Canada's former ambassador to the United Nations, has long been an activist working to eradicate HIV/AIDS in Africa, where the disease is taking a disastrous toll on the continent's population. Efforts among WOCCU groups working within various African nations such as Kenya to educate populations about disease prevention are laudable said Lewis, who worked as U.N. Special Envoy to HIV/AIDS in Africa before forming the Stephen Lewis Foundation to combat the autoimmune disease.
More profound in their influence, however, are WOCCU's efforts to financially empower credit union members, particularly women that may make the greatest difference. Studies have shown a link between poverty and increased HIV/AIDS, particularly in many African nations. Creating financial independence through micro-loans helps promote gender equality, a social element critical to stem the startling advance of the disease through male-dominated societies. A continued cycle of poverty and ignorance is fostering HIV/AIDS' increasing prevalence, as well as that of tuberculosis and malaria, decimation of entire populations, Lewis said.
"The entire credit union movement is making a contribution worldwide that is second to none, yet you are not sufficiently appreciated for your efforts," Lewis said.
HIV/AIDS claims between 800 and 1,000 victims per day in South Africa alone, Lewis said. Overall, 78% of HIV/AIDS victims are women with a prevalence rate higher among married women victimized by husbands who bring the disease home than among single women. In sub-Saharan Africa, the disease has orphaned as many as 15 million children, a number expected to rise to 20 million by the year 2010.
Many of those orphaned children are being raised by grandmothers who need micro-loans to create businesses that help what remains of their families to survive, Lewis said. Loans bring sustenance, but also hope to families in the face of crushing adversity and are, for many, the only option.
"The World Council has the chance to intervene where other organization won't," Lewis said. "Take this challenge into your hands and turn this planet into a place worthy of supporting the human dynamic. If we can move the compass of concern, we can improve the human condition," Lewis added. "There is no higher purpose in this world."
