MEXICO CITY (ANS) -- The international director of a British relief and development agency says his organization is 'right where it should be' in the middle of the 17th International World AIDS Conference in Mexico City.

Peter Grant

Peter Grant, international director of Tear Fund in the United Kingdom, which is a Christian relief and development agency committed to seeing people lifted out of spiritual and physical poverty around the world --particularly through the local church -- was asked about the carnival-like atmosphere at AIDS 2008.

International journalist and author Dan Wooding, said: "Now I’ve just been walking around this area with a friend of mine who said this is like a circus. There’s everything here -- free condoms, all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff."

He asked Grant: "What is a respectable Christian ministry doing in the middle of all this?"

Grant responded: "I think this is just exactly where we should be -- it’s great to be in an environment where there are so many different views around. But to be able to stand here with a Christian perspective putting forward what the local church is doing, pointing out that so much of the healthcare and support to people living with HIV, through Africa particularly, is being provided by churches and Christians."

Wooding commented: "When I first started coming to these conferences you could count the number of Christian ministries on one hand. The church in some ways has been very slow coming into the table, very judgmental. What has been the turn around of this?"

"I think it’s a realization of the heart of Christ for marginalized people around the world and people living with HIV are often amongst the most marginalized. Tear Fund started to take forward some innovative work with partners. We’ve worked with Trans-gender communities in India, we’ve worked with victims of sexual violence in The Congo, and we’re highlighting some of this work here. But I think more than that, this is a chance for the Church to be changed in terms of our judgmental attitudes and in terms of the stigma that we address towards people with living with HIV and show that we actually do genuinely love everyone as the Lord calls us to do," said Grant.

Wooding asked Grant: "What would you say to the cynic saying 'well it’s as I’ve heard -- some people say it’s the gay plague -- it’s their own fault.' What would you say to that, particularly in view of what’s happening in Africa?"

He responded: "I’d say that each of us, when we stand before God, are people who need his forgiveness and grace and we’re not here asking how people contracted HIV but seeking to love them and look after them and support them where they are, and as I say I think the Church needs to change to reflect more the mind of Christ and that God is using HIV to help us to do that."

Find more information about Tear Fund from: www.tearfund.org  

**ANS would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview.

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael's involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) -- of ACT International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (ACT) International.