February 5, 2004 - Christian Science Monitor: Ethiopia RPCV Phil Lilienthal's Worldcamps helps sponsor AIDS Education in South Africa Amid Crayons and Soccer

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Ethiopia: Peace Corps Ethiopia : The Peace Corps in Ethiopia: February 5, 2004 - Christian Science Monitor: Ethiopia RPCV Phil Lilienthal's Worldcamps helps sponsor AIDS Education in South Africa Amid Crayons and Soccer

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-42-145.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.42.145) on Sunday, February 08, 2004 - 7:12 pm: Edit Post

Ethiopia RPCV Phil Lilienthal's Worldcamps helps sponsor AIDS Education in South Africa Amid Crayons and Soccer



Ethiopia RPCV Phil Lilienthal's Worldcamps helps sponsor AIDS Education in South Africa Amid Crayons and Soccer

SOUTH AFRICA: In Africa, AIDS Education Amid Crayons and Soccer

Christian Science Monitor (02.03.04) - Thursday, February 05, 2004
Nicole Itano
HIVSA, a nonprofit associated with the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, and WorldCamps, an organization founded by American Philip Lilienthal, recently offered a one- week summer holiday camp program to 100 poor boys from townships near Johannesburg. A few of the boys are HIV-positive. All have a family member infected with the disease.

The first of six camps planned in South Africa for girls and boys this year, Camp Sizanani mixed fun and games with AIDS awareness, cooperation, affection and attention. Some of the camp counselors are former Peace Corps volunteers or Americans who have worked in summer camps before. Some are young South Africans involved in AIDS work and counseling.

Campers range in age from 10 to 16. In addition to teaching daily life skills, counselors work to debunk myths about condoms - such as that their lubrication contains worms released by water or the sun, or that government-issued condoms contain holes. Counselor Lawrence Ndou passed out condoms, challenging the boys to find worms or holes. Counselors preach prevention and respect, and build bonds of trust with the boys.

Although summer camps are not part of South African culture, organizers hope American-style sessions will replicate the success of camps for troubled or sick children in the United States. Sizanani means "help each other" in Zulu.

Some campers may have been skeptical at first, but according to Katlego Skosana, a counselor from Soweto, "Nobody wants to go home. They want to stay here for another week." For many of the young campers who return to difficult lives in South Africa's townships and squatter camps, Sizanani offers a chance to just have fun.
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Story Source: Christian Science Monitor

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ethiopia; Service; Camps; COS - South Africa

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By Max Anderson (cache-dtc-ae04.proxy.aol.com - 205.188.117.8) on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 10:26 pm: Edit Post

Can anything stop AIDS?



Rockford, IL. The May 15 issue of Newsweek is devoted to a report of AIDS at 25. The raw facts indicate that 25 million have died while today, 40.5 million are now infected worldwide. The numbers of infections continue to rise at an alarming rate. In 2002, it was reported, AIDS was the leading killer of people 15 – 59.



The article contains a number of tragic stories, but the most alarming involved those who became infected in their teens. One woman was 19 when she tested positive. Another woman had chosen celibacy at the age of 18, after a single sexual encounter, but this proved to be too late. She, too, tested positive. The saddest part of her story is that she is now carrying a child. Another 17 year-old young woman had also tested positive.



Many women have contracted HIV and then, unknowingly, passed this deadly virus on to their infants, years later. This year, 1 in every 4 teens will get a sexually transmitted disease.



It is estimated that half of the new infections in the United States will be in young people ages 13-24. The CDC estimates that 1 in 3 people who already have HIV don’t know it because they have not been tested.



Polls show that a growing number of parents fear that their children will be infected with the AIDS virus. They have reason to fear. Teens are one of the age groups where AIDS is most rapidly on the rise. In recent years this subject has become less of a concern because of reports about AIDS drugs and hope for a vaccine.



In 1997, a groundbreaking film was produced. TRACY’S CHOICES documents the life of Tracy Eichman. Tracy was the first person in the state of Illinois to be sent to prison for the knowing attempt to transmit HIV.



This film tells of a young girl raised in a middle class, Midwestern home in Rockford, Illinois. Early in her life, Tracy began experimenting with alcohol. Her peers introduced her to drugs. Not long after that, she dropped out of high school.



Tracy turned to prostitution in order to earn the money to pay for her growing drug habit. She wasn’t sure if it was through prostitution or sharing needles that she became HIV positive, but she knew one thing. As she saw her life coming to an end, Tracy had to do something to warn teenagers.



TRACY’S CHOICES was Tracy’s way to turn a life of poor choices, crime, drug abuse, and desperation into something positive. Tracy begs teens not to drink alcohol or do drugs. She tells how important it is to wait until marriage for sex. She said, “I will never have a family. I will never have a husband. I will never, not have AIDS. If there was one thing I could change it would be to have never lost my virginity. For that I would give anything!”



TRACY’S CHOICES is intended for use in churches, and faith-based ministries, that promote AIDS education and abstinence. But, it has is also being used in a number of other applications, including AIDS education in Africa.



Young people can become immune to AIDS. TRACY’S CHOICES will help. A woman who works with other women in prisons recently said, “I’ve been counseling women for several years about AIDS, and this film is the best thing out there.”



Can anything stop AIDS? Experts tell us abstinence is the most effective weapon we have for the battle because it is effective 100% of the time.



TRACY’S CHOICES

M V P Productions

P. O. Box 4126

Rockford, Illinois 61110

Contact: Max Elliot Anderson (815) 877 – 1514



$29.95 per DVD copy – includes shipping and handling



Read more about this film at : http://maxbooks.9k.com/photo2.html

Review # 1 http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2002/tracyschoices.html

Review # 2 http://www.assistnews.net/strategic/s0107059.htm


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