AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN AMBASSADORS REPRESENTING 11 COUNTRIES CONVENE IN LOS ANGELES TO DISCUSS FIGHT AGAINST GLOBAL AIDS PANDEMIC

Unprecedented Event Organized By Pan African Children’s Fund Founder Bishop Charles Blake

July 26, 2004, Los Angeles, CA
On the heels of the XV International AIDS conference in Bangkok, Thailand, 15 members of the African and African American diplomatic community and over 80 religious, political, business and community leaders gathered in Los Angeles (July 17 & 18) for a weekend of dialogue specifically addressing stronger communication between the black church and Africa.  The weekend was organized by Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr., Pastor of the 24,000 member West Angeles Church and founder of the Pan African Children’s Fund.  Discussions focused on the devastating African AIDS pandemic in Sub Saharan Africa, home to 70% of all people living with HIV – some 25 million - and 75% of AIDS deaths globally. 

Through his Pan African Children’s Fund, Bishop Blake assembled the weekend, appropriately named “Pan African Sunday,” to recognize the contributions of African and African American Ambassadors, as well as jumpstart a much needed dialogue among the communities affected by this destructive epidemic.  The weekend included a private dinner, special services at the West Angeles Cathedral and a luncheon roundtable.  Among the influential participants were African American U.S. ambassadors Andrew J. Young and Charles R. Stith. 

“It is my view that U.S. black churches and religious bodies can serve as voices of conscience, social justice and healing in this global struggle.  [The church] is uniquely positioned to increase the levels of education, advocacy, and humanitarian assistance needed to affect the lives of millions of children orphaned and affected by AIDS” said Bishop Blake.   

Bishop Blake currently resides over more than 250 African American Churches in Southern California and is among the most respected Christian ministers in the world.  The Pan African Children’s Fund and its program, “Save Africa’s Children,” was founded in October 2001 to mobilize resources from black churches all across the country. The immediate goals are to fund AIDS orphan projects and AIDS research in sub Saharan Africa as well as initiate a comprehensive program that encourages African Americans to take an interest in and support efforts being taken to stop the AIDS epidemic in Africa.  

The invitation list targeted Ambassadors representing countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic including Kenya, Swaziland and Zambia as well as Uganda which has successfully reversed its epidemic from 21% to 6% largely due to effective public campaigns and prevention efforts.  At the dinner Bishop Blake outlined a broad comprehensive “Pan African” vision for engaging the black church in Africa policy.  

Andrew J. Young and Charles R. Stith were guest speakers at the West Angeles Cathedral, addressing 8,000 congregants and visitors in two morning services.  Ambassador Stith, former U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania and Director of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University, urged the black church to educate its members on Africa and invest both political and financial resources in Africa.  “African Americans have an aggregate income of close to 700 billion dollars annually -  in a few years it is expected to be in the neighborhood of 850 billion annually.  If ten percent or even one percent was used to purchase materials or merchandise produced on the continent, the impact would be awesome,” said Stith.

Ambassador Young - former congressman, mayor of Atlanta and US Ambassador to the United Nations - likened the development of Bishop Blake’s vision to the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement.   “We didn’t know what we were doing … we were just young people, struggling to find out what God would have us do” said Young. 

“Pan African Sunday” concluded with a luncheon roundtable moderated by the Reverend Eugene F. Rivers 3d of Boston, Special Advisor to Bishop Blake, at which the African Ambassadors reflected on how the Black church can further assist the African diplomatic community in addressing a range of policy issues including education, advocacy, humanitarian assistance and trade and investment.   “The purpose of this event is to lay the foundation for a new mobilization of black churches to stand in the gap for the poorest of the poor …from Sudan to South Africa,” said Reverend Rivers. 

Next month Bishop Blake will lead a 70 person delegation of supporters and religious leaders on a two- week East African tour of Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia to meet with government leaders and visit PACF-funded AIDS orphans projects.  In September Bishop Blake will convene a Capitol Hill policy dialogue for black church leaders across the U.S., issuing a challenge to presidential candidates to outline a new African foreign and development assistance policy agenda.