SOUTH AFRICA: In a small corner of the vast African Aids battlefield an Irish priest is doing what he can. Deaglán de Bréadún met him yesterday
Kieran Creagh was a bank official for six years. Then he switched from Mammon to God. As a result the 41-year-old Belfast man now finds himself working with other members of the Passionist Order to turn back the tide of HIV/Aids in South Africa.
He feels the twin campaigns run by church and state aren't working. They both use the initials ABC. The State campaign urges South Africans "Abstain, Be Faithful, Condomise [i.e. use condoms]." The Catholic Church version is somewhat different: "Abstain, Be Faithful, Change Your Behaviour."
So he has taken a personal initiative in the fight against Aids. Although he is completely healthy and Aids-free himself, three weeks ago he became the first person in the country to be injected with a trial vaccine that had previously only been used on mice. So far there have been no serious side-effects. The scientists hope the vaccine can develop antibodies in Father Creagh's system that are capable of attacking the Aids virus.
It's a risk none of us would be comfortable about taking, but Father Creagh, born and reared in Ardoyne, decided he had to take the chance.
All around him in the Atteridgeville township, outside Pretoria, people are dying of Aids every day. The cemeteries are under pressure because, tragically, there is a shortage of grave-space for new arrivals.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, visited Father Creagh's parish centre in the township yesterday and was taken to the home of an Aids victim, Christina Lukhele, a 34-year-old single parent of four girls, including a child in arms. Her home is made of cardboard and corrugated iron.
"We brought some food to help, a small token of our friendship," Mr Cowen said as Ms Nicole McHugh from his department's development division brought in a large box of groceries, including rice, Sunlight soap and Lemon Cream biscuits.
Father Creagh and his people need more than that, of course, and he has received €100,000 from the Government towards the cost of a hospice he and his colleagues are building on a site overlooking the township. The Hospice on the Hill will be called Leratong, an African word meaning The Place Where There Is Love.
There are 5,000 Roman Catholics in Atteridgeville, and Father Creagh is burying up to five of them each week. Most of the dead are in their 30s or early 40s and, although nobody likes to say it straight out, he believes Aids is contributing significantly to the death-toll.
Out of a total township population of half-a-million, an estimated 40 per cent in the 17-40 age-group are infected with the virus.
It's a small consolation that Ireland has donated €2,000 to the cost of sewing-machines in Father Creagh's self-help centre for local women, but now a further €10,000 has been pledged to the creche and other projects.
Last night Mr Cowen announced a grant of €300,000 to New Partnership for Africa's Development, the continent's version of the Marshall Plan. Ireland currently spends about €11 million in development aid to South Africa.
The Passionists and their associates have answered the call to help the people of Atteridgeville and similar areas. "I came for six months to help out," said Father Ignatius Waters from Navan, Co Meath, a former provincial of the order in Ireland. That was six years ago. "I am no hero," says Father Creagh. "The real heroes are those living with HIV/Aids and getting on with life."
Once his Leratong hospice is finished, he will need money for its day-to-day operations. The sources of future funds are a little vague but his determination is absolutely clear. If he comes knocking on your door, dig deep.