Book of Hope is playing its part to break the ignorance and misinformation that have been major factors in the spread of AIDS in Africa by distributing its children’s Bibles to schools across the continent.

|TOP|The organisation is planning to distribute more than 10 million Books of Hope to children in 12 African nations during 2006, with hopes to bring even more next year, reports Mission Network News.

There are currently over 39 million children and youth in Africa who have HIV/AIDS, with the number expected to rise.

With permission from governments, Book of Hope is targeting schools and the distribution of its books among school children.

“The key for us at Book Of Hope is concentrating on the next generation and not just working alongside the local churches that we work with to bring them hope for today in the midst of their pain and agony, but really to put the right information into their hands to stop this horrible pandemic from spreading and continuing,” said Book of Hope’s Rob Hoskins.

|QUOTE|“And the only way that will happen is if sexual behaviour changes in those countries, and the only way sexual behaviour will change is if there's a heart change. And the heart change, of course, comes through the Gospel."

Hoskins stressed the strategy for fighting against the HIV/AIDS pandemic was about impacting for the long-term, and impacting for life-change.

"There has to be a heart change for people to begin to live a life of abstinence or fidelity within marriage, and that comes through a lifestyle change and that's what the Gospel is all about,” he said.

“So by us going into the public school systems around Africa, providing them the Good News, we do abstinence-based programs, but we also deliver the Word of God that says, 'This is the way you must live,' and with that lifestyle change comes purity, and with purity comes a new hope for Africa."

A donation of around £2 not only provides three children with a Book of Hope, but it also enables the national church to be involved in distribution and follow-up.

Hoskins said the needs are huge, yet he remains optimistic: “The doors are open; the opportunities are endless, and the children and youth are hungry to change. And so we just need a lot of prayer, (and) people to get involved with us to make sure that we can deliver this message to the continent."