Zimbabwe

1,500 people in Mashonaland West - a rural area 150km south of the capital, Harare - received HIV and AIDS-related Scripture booklets in early March 2009, thorough an initiative of the Bible Society of Zimbabwe. The distribution was carried out in co-operation with the Simbarashe AIDS Network (SAN), which provides care and support for 3,000 people in the area who are living with HIV and AIDS, and for 1,500 AIDS orphans.

The booklets contain the Gospel of Luke and some introductory pages advocating a biblical response to tackling HIV and AIDS.

With one in seven adults living with HIV, and an estimated 2,200 people dying each week from AIDS-related illnesses, Zimbabwe has one of the world's highest rates of infection.

The Bible Society is currently involved in distributing a variety of Scriptures to encourage and comfort people affected by HIV and AIDS, and plans to extend this work.

Burkina Faso

“Now, when sighted people open their Bibles to read, we will also open ours," declared an emotional Joseph Ouédraogo, the representative of the blind, during the dedication of the New Testament in Mooré Braille. The ceremony took place in March 2009 at the headquarters of the Bible Society of Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou.

There are about 500,000 visually impaired people in Burkina Faso, 200,000 of whom are blind. The Bible Society works regularly with the 85 training centres for the visually impaired spread across the country and gives them Braille Scriptures. Many use these Scriptures to help improve their reading skills.

Cameroon

Some 4,000 children; around 100 leaders trained to supervise them; 32 Churches and organisations represented; 3 weeks of games and Bible lessons...

These figures give some idea of the scale of the KidsGames which were organised by the Bible Society of Cameroon from March 21 to April 11 2009.

In this year of St Paul, the theme of these KidsGames was 'Paul: being the best you can be'. The children, aged between four and fourteen, spoke about the way in which they had been touched by the life of Paul, thanks to a good mix of sport, games and Bible teaching.

"Sport is known to break down barriers such as race, religion, social origin, and political or cultural allegiance, thus becoming the universal language par excellence. It develops discipline, self-sacrifice, perseverance, courage and promotes team spirit," said the Minister for Sport and Physical Education.