Rev. Dr Nyambura Njoroge is always reminding herself of the daily lives of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Their battle for dignity and enormous resilience keeps inspiring her work coordinating the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative for Africa.

After two weeks of training on the theology and politics of ecological justice in Durban, South Africa, Christian youth from around the world have pledged to start, in their own contexts, initiatives that promote the new understandings they have acquired.

The shock expressed by members of a rural congregation when offered an opportunity for voluntary HIV testing and counselling, and other similar experiences have taught Pauline Wanjiru Njiru that it is not the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that kills people, but fear, stigma and ignorance.

Churches in Egypt are praying and helping migrants, who flee home due to political turmoil, violence and uncertain future. There is a great need to develop stable democratic societies if the “Arab Spring” is to bear fruits. Or else it might turn into an “Arab winter” with religious minorities at the risk of persecution.

“We are packed inside prison walls like sardines in a plastic carton”, says 22-year-old Ibrahim, who has been imprisoned since September. Ibrahim made his comments to members of a WCC delegation, which visited Central Prison in late October as part of a human rights training programme in Sierra Leone.

Dr Marlon Weichert, a prominent Brazilian human rights advocate, visited the WCC offices in Geneva on Tuesday. In an interview, he appreciated the role of churches in assisting Brazil as it comes to terms with its painful past and envisions a better future. A truth commission in Brazil, he says, will start to make sense when churches continue using faith values in protecting human rights.

Whether facilitating training, translating information, or distributing printed materials, Deolinda Dorcas Teca is determined to help craft the tools people in the Portuguese language region of Africa will use to face the challenges of HIV and AIDS.

Dr Sarojini Nadar is a theologian from South Africa working on the issues of gender, religion and health. As part of the WCC initiative to make November a month of health and healing, Nadar was interviewed by WCC Communications, addressing the theme “Gender inequity and its impact on health: Created in the image of God”.

Wilhelm Pierola Iturralde is the president of the Bolivian Association "Joining Hands for Life". In an interview at the Global Forum of the Ecumenical Water Network last week, he spoke about water issues in Bolivia.

Clare Amos, the WCC programme executive for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, shares reflections from her participation at the interfaith gathering of Assisi on 27 October.