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Aids priest determined to fight on after assault

Nov 30, 2009 10:20 PM | By Zandile Mbabela

After being shot, beaten and left for dead in his home at the Leratong Hospice, in Atteridgeville, near Pretoria, two years ago, Fr Kieran Creagh is more determined than ever to continue the work he says he was destined for.


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Creagh, a Catholic priest from Northern Ireland, said: "It knocked my confidence, my health and my emotions. I couldn't believe it could happen at a place I consider a haven for peace and love like Leratong," he said.

Though he considered giving up caring for those dying of Aids, he instead expanded his hospice, which has cared for more than 1000 patients since 2004.

Creagh, the first person in South Africa to volunteer for an Aids vaccine trial, said his hospice will not be celebrating World Aids Day today because it should be an international day of mourning.

"I found it strange that people celebrate this day with parties and concerts when 6.7 million people are dead because of the disease," he said.

"We're going to have a religious service in which we will remember some of our patients who died."

Though he was "extremely disappointed" at the Mbeki government's denialist stance on Aids, Creagh said he was heartened by that of the Zuma administration.

"The government needs to realise that the people living in squatter camps are just as important as those in Parliament."

"The government, civil society, business and church leaders must come together, pack a punch and say 'enough is enough'."

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