I am on a steep curve of discovery as the new Executive Director of Alegria. Whether it’s discovering our digital projector – only after four months in the office – or absorbing details from our dozen funding contracts. I have also enjoyed learning about Alegria from outside perspectives, including a great article by Christin Davis in Caring Magazine. To foster my discovery, following a recent discussion of ways to connect local Alegria experiences to the global AIDS pandemic, Dr. Doug Loisel forwarded the book More Than Eyes Can See: A nine month journey through the AIDS pandemic by Rhidian Brook.

This book unfolds from first-hand accounts of a journalist and his family who shared in the experiences of Salvation Army officers and employees who provide services to people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The book’s introduction sketches the realization that these programs span the globe: Kenya, India, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the United States. The last country caught my eye; the city had me racing to the back of the book to read about, you guessed it, Alegria in Los Angeles!

From isolated villages to the crowded slums of the developing world, Brook’s travelogue is a fresh way to understand the complexity of the AIDS pandemic and the unique responses of The Salvation Army. Though it’s a little surreal to read about a program one runs in a book, it left me with a renewed understanding of the important combination of faith and services in addressing a disease that, at its root, involves the most intimate of experiences and a destructive set of consequences. Being infected and affected by HIV/AIDS shakes people, families, and communities to their core.

Reading More Than Eyes Can See is an experience of its own. It invites readers into deeper understanding of the 100+ years of experience that The Salvation Army has developed in caring for the multifaceted needs of humanity. This book is a welcomed affirmation of The Salvation Army, as we continue to take flight around the world with the wings of faith and service!