HIV/AIDS Missions Officer: John Payne
Dumela, Mulishani, Hello,
I am Johnny Payne, the HIV/AIDS Missions Officer at Stop the Spread. I began my current assignment on January 4th 2010 and plan to serve in a voluntary capacity through 2011 as the Lord guides and provides for me to do so. God has blessed me greatly by placing me in this assignment with the STS team, living in Mufulira, working alongside our Zambian counterparts, and giving me a passion and a calling for this ministry that has to date focused on the needs which the HIV epidemic in Zambia has created.
I will be turning 28 on 2 July this year, at which point I will have completed 4 years working in the field of HIV prevention. Prior to 2006, I did not have a particular interest in HIV/AIDS or Africa, which indicates to me how the Lord has directed my life, frequently in ways I could not have predicted or even imagined. One of the first seeds God planted in my heart for this ministry was an internship I completed as part of my masters degree in public policy in 2005 at Pepperdine University. As I interned at the National Safe Haven Alliance in Alexandria, Virginia, I developed a passion for the young women with crisis pregnancies which the safe haven laws were designed to assist. Working from a policy perspective, I saw how powerfully the government could play a role in promoting and securing women’s and children’s rights, though I felt there must be more than laws passed if the justice God calls us to extend to the most vulnerable of persons is to be served.
Many persons, circumstances, and experiences contributed to my coming to Africa and to living here for the past 3 years. At Pepperdine, I was influenced by many friends who were interested in studying and working on issues which were also important to me. Freddy and Colin, two classmates of mine, and I came up with a research project in which we proposed to measure the impact of civil society organizations’ response to the refugee crisis in the wake of the Sudanese genocide. We managed to secure a large funding commitment from Pepperdine, but did not allow enough time to arrange the essential travel logistics which were necessary for working in a post-conflict region. The planning process did inspire me to consider a future assignment in Africa to address social justice at the community level. It is interesting to see how God can seemingly open and close the same door, sometimes repeatedly, as it has shown me that God does not change nor experience time as we do, but that He is able to give us what we need at the right time and to prepare us for future service through trials, frustrations, challenges we face at present.
Upon graduation from Pepperdine in April 2006, I was unaware that it would be a year before I would begin work in Africa, and that the year would be spent in repeated extremes of economic distress and abundance, confusion and clarity concerning God’s guidance, and in rebellion and submission to God’s will. At one point, I was driving eastward from Los Angeles across the country with absolutely no idea about what God wanted me to do, while shortly thereafter, I found myself in a job which was inspiring and preparing me for an HIV prevention assignment as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. At times, I was deeply committed to a local congregation and growing spiritually; at other times, I was adrift in a cycle of selfishness, guilt, and spiritual apathy. As I flew to Botswana on April 18th 2007 to begin an assignment with the Peace Corps as a Community Capacity Builder, I was excited to taste Africa and to begin helping people whom I felt had few other means for helping themselves.
My first and most memorable experiences in Botswana revolved around the hospitality of the people, as well as seeing situations which felt hopeless. I was cared for by the Radisigo family in Thamaga as their seventh adopted son (they had 6 sons!) and will never forget how comfortable they made the transition and how much that meant to me at the time. In my village, Letlhakane, I discovered a community which was very grateful for my presence and generally welcomed my ideas and contributions to a problem which they seemed willing to recognize but not convinced they could solve on their own or with the resources available to them. It did not occur to them that the US has not managed to make any noticeable progress (in deed, it has regressed in recent years) in STI prevention with the world’s most wealthy government, most advanced medical technology, and highly developed public infrastructure. 2 years of volunteering in HIV prevention in Letlhakane has convinced me that development, funding, volunteerism, and resources can do very little if they do not have a significant influence on the confidence of people in their ability to solve the problem and their willingness to pay the price which the solution requires. The price of the solution to HIV is definitely not measurable in conventional terms, it is only measurable in terms of willingness to do what it takes to stop HIV infection. We have known for many years how this can be done though a large enough percentage of us are not willing to do it, else we would have not have the epidemic that continues at present. The sacrifice of sexual freedom is a price too high for both the average American and African, though it will generally cost the African much more in the end.
In May 2008, I was invited to attend a HIV/AIDS seminar in Mufulira, Zambia to be facilitated by Duane Crumb, the director of HIV Hope International in affiliation with New Mission Systems International in Fort Myers, FL. While there, I met the STS team and immediately connected with their spirit and mission which they had begun in 2004 in partnership with Agape in Africa Ministries International, led by Dr. Thinus Van Dyk. Keeping in correspondence, STS invited me to join them in 2009 on a trip during which they began to discuss where God was leading them in the ministry and I felt that God was preparing me to join them at the conclusion of my Peace Corps assignment. However, circumstances led me to take my next job with EnCompass, an american company which was contracted to lead the monitoring and evaluation of the life skills curriculum developed as an HIV prevention initiative by Botswana’s Ministry of Education with funding by PEPFAR (US govt’s international HIV/AIDS funding). I worked for EnCompass from June-December 2009, and it was a blessing because it prepared me in ways my Peace Corps assignment did not and gave me an opportunity to discuss the vision of STS and how I envisioned my role in the team and the ministry.
The hand of God is evident in this ministry, especially in the servant hearts of its volunteers. I am blessed to be here, in God’s time, with a calling, and the support of many people who are spiritually bound to us and to those we are serving. I ask that you would keep the STS team in your prayers that God would align our purpose to His, that he would work in our hearts to be ready and willing to go as far and as deep as He calls us, and that He would use our ministry and our lives to draw others closer to Himself and those outside into His kingdom.
I am Johnny Payne, the HIV/AIDS Missions Officer at Stop the Spread. I began my current assignment on January 4th 2010 and plan to serve in a voluntary capacity through 2011 as the Lord guides and provides for me to do so. God has blessed me greatly by placing me in this assignment with the STS team, living in Mufulira, working alongside our Zambian counterparts, and giving me a passion and a calling for this ministry that has to date focused on the needs which the HIV epidemic in Zambia has created.
I will be turning 28 on 2 July this year, at which point I will have completed 4 years working in the field of HIV prevention. Prior to 2006, I did not have a particular interest in HIV/AIDS or Africa, which indicates to me how the Lord has directed my life, frequently in ways I could not have predicted or even imagined. One of the first seeds God planted in my heart for this ministry was an internship I completed as part of my masters degree in public policy in 2005 at Pepperdine University. As I interned at the National Safe Haven Alliance in Alexandria, Virginia, I developed a passion for the young women with crisis pregnancies which the safe haven laws were designed to assist. Working from a policy perspective, I saw how powerfully the government could play a role in promoting and securing women’s and children’s rights, though I felt there must be more than laws passed if the justice God calls us to extend to the most vulnerable of persons is to be served.
Many persons, circumstances, and experiences contributed to my coming to Africa and to living here for the past 3 years. At Pepperdine, I was influenced by many friends who were interested in studying and working on issues which were also important to me. Freddy and Colin, two classmates of mine, and I came up with a research project in which we proposed to measure the impact of civil society organizations’ response to the refugee crisis in the wake of the Sudanese genocide. We managed to secure a large funding commitment from Pepperdine, but did not allow enough time to arrange the essential travel logistics which were necessary for working in a post-conflict region. The planning process did inspire me to consider a future assignment in Africa to address social justice at the community level. It is interesting to see how God can seemingly open and close the same door, sometimes repeatedly, as it has shown me that God does not change nor experience time as we do, but that He is able to give us what we need at the right time and to prepare us for future service through trials, frustrations, challenges we face at present.
Upon graduation from Pepperdine in April 2006, I was unaware that it would be a year before I would begin work in Africa, and that the year would be spent in repeated extremes of economic distress and abundance, confusion and clarity concerning God’s guidance, and in rebellion and submission to God’s will. At one point, I was driving eastward from Los Angeles across the country with absolutely no idea about what God wanted me to do, while shortly thereafter, I found myself in a job which was inspiring and preparing me for an HIV prevention assignment as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. At times, I was deeply committed to a local congregation and growing spiritually; at other times, I was adrift in a cycle of selfishness, guilt, and spiritual apathy. As I flew to Botswana on April 18th 2007 to begin an assignment with the Peace Corps as a Community Capacity Builder, I was excited to taste Africa and to begin helping people whom I felt had few other means for helping themselves.
My first and most memorable experiences in Botswana revolved around the hospitality of the people, as well as seeing situations which felt hopeless. I was cared for by the Radisigo family in Thamaga as their seventh adopted son (they had 6 sons!) and will never forget how comfortable they made the transition and how much that meant to me at the time. In my village, Letlhakane, I discovered a community which was very grateful for my presence and generally welcomed my ideas and contributions to a problem which they seemed willing to recognize but not convinced they could solve on their own or with the resources available to them. It did not occur to them that the US has not managed to make any noticeable progress (in deed, it has regressed in recent years) in STI prevention with the world’s most wealthy government, most advanced medical technology, and highly developed public infrastructure. 2 years of volunteering in HIV prevention in Letlhakane has convinced me that development, funding, volunteerism, and resources can do very little if they do not have a significant influence on the confidence of people in their ability to solve the problem and their willingness to pay the price which the solution requires. The price of the solution to HIV is definitely not measurable in conventional terms, it is only measurable in terms of willingness to do what it takes to stop HIV infection. We have known for many years how this can be done though a large enough percentage of us are not willing to do it, else we would have not have the epidemic that continues at present. The sacrifice of sexual freedom is a price too high for both the average American and African, though it will generally cost the African much more in the end.
In May 2008, I was invited to attend a HIV/AIDS seminar in Mufulira, Zambia to be facilitated by Duane Crumb, the director of HIV Hope International in affiliation with New Mission Systems International in Fort Myers, FL. While there, I met the STS team and immediately connected with their spirit and mission which they had begun in 2004 in partnership with Agape in Africa Ministries International, led by Dr. Thinus Van Dyk. Keeping in correspondence, STS invited me to join them in 2009 on a trip during which they began to discuss where God was leading them in the ministry and I felt that God was preparing me to join them at the conclusion of my Peace Corps assignment. However, circumstances led me to take my next job with EnCompass, an american company which was contracted to lead the monitoring and evaluation of the life skills curriculum developed as an HIV prevention initiative by Botswana’s Ministry of Education with funding by PEPFAR (US govt’s international HIV/AIDS funding). I worked for EnCompass from June-December 2009, and it was a blessing because it prepared me in ways my Peace Corps assignment did not and gave me an opportunity to discuss the vision of STS and how I envisioned my role in the team and the ministry.
The hand of God is evident in this ministry, especially in the servant hearts of its volunteers. I am blessed to be here, in God’s time, with a calling, and the support of many people who are spiritually bound to us and to those we are serving. I ask that you would keep the STS team in your prayers that God would align our purpose to His, that he would work in our hearts to be ready and willing to go as far and as deep as He calls us, and that He would use our ministry and our lives to draw others closer to Himself and those outside into His kingdom.
John Payne began working in Zambia with LRPI in January of 2010, primarily in the area of HIV/AIDS education. Check out his blog at http://johnnypayne.wordpress.com/.
