AIDS victims seek holy water for cure
Desperate for a cure, Ethiopians flock the mountain of Entoto near Addis Ababa seeking holy water. Ethiopian Orthodox bishop Abune Paulos says that holy water and anti-retroviral medication neither contradict or resist each other.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
By IRIN

Desperate Ethiopians, flocking to an ancient mountain north of the capital, Addis Ababa, seeking a "holy water" cure for AIDS have been belatedly warned by the church to keep taking their antiretroviral (ARV) medication.

"Both are gifts of God, they neither contradict nor resist each other," the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos, said this week. "You can swallow your drugs with the holy water," he added.

Thousands of HIV-positive people from all corners of Ethiopia have visited Entoto mountain, on the northern outskirts of the capital, after local priests promised they could cure the virus.

"I found out my HIV status seven months back and packed my bags for Entoto - many people have been healed,” Tesfaye Belete*, a former soldier seeking treatment, told PlusNews. the rest photo