Speaking in Geneva to mark the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Sister Flynn recounted her experience in working in the poverty-stricken township, located about 55 kilometres from Johannesburg. She said working in the Kopanang Women's Group, a Christian ministry which allows women to share their life experiences and generate an income, was a reminder of what it meant to be in the presence of God where though the body was dying but yet the Spirit lives on.
"Those among whom I live and minister are a daily reminder of what it means to be in the presence of God, of the reality that even if the body is spiralling down towards death, the Spirit is sustaining our every effort," said Flynn.
She was critical of the Churches' response to AIDS suffers, saying they had failed to carry out the teaching of the Kingdom and instead shunned those who needed the greatest support.
"Unfortunately, our churches have not always espoused Kingdom values in our practice. Too often those most in need of support have been met with judgement, experiencing criticism and shame," Flynn warned. "AIDS challenges us to focus on what truly matters."
It was the time to work together, she repeated, to tackle the scourge of AIDS on humanity, which she indicated resulted in more deaths compared to all the wars of the 20th century.
"Unity is about us working together. HIV/AIDS is a story about ourselves. What kind of people are we? AIDS has claimed more [lives] than all the wars of the 20th century," she noted.
The project the nun works on helps women to generate income by creating artwork for sale, and Kopanang products are now sold in the United States, Germany, Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia. It brings together women from the township of Tsakane which has black residents and from the mainly "coloured" or mixed-raced township of Geluksdal.
Tackling AIDS has been a focal point of evangelicals over the past few years where Saddleback Church, known famously through the Purpose Driven Life authored by its senior pastor, Rick Warren, has taken a prominent role on the global-stage to solve it by holding global AIDS summit.
Kay Warren, the executive director of Saddleback HIV/AIDS initiative, explained AIDS was especially chosen because of the stigma that was attached to people who were infected by it and also it was preventable.
Though she once believed the disease was spread because of the patient's fault, such as through risky behaviour, she now comes to understand other innocent people became infected through no fault of their own.
"…Millions of women come to receive the disease through unfaithful husbands, babies acquired the disease from their mother, and millions more received it through tainted blood," she said.