Stephen Lewis' Call to Justice

Today the group got together and attended Stephen Lewis' lecture. Stephen Lewis is the author of "Race Against Time" and is also the United Nation secretary-General's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and is the director of the Stephen Lewis Foundatoin (www.stephenlewisfoundation.org). He was also named one of hte 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine in 2005.

During his lecutre he questioned the ethics of the state in which Africa is now. 1,600 children die a day of AIDs, and many are orphaned. He mentioned and referenced many instances in which he watched young children care for their parents without having any real chance of saving them. These children are not necessarily old enough to even understand what sick is, yet they are trying to save their mothers. He referenced that there are many households where the head of the household is age 8. These are injustices. He also talked about the healthcare in these countries, in which there might be 70 people on the verge of death, not even in beds, and yet there is only one nurse that is supposed to attend to all of these people. The saddest part? This is treatable. There are ways to prevent people from obtaining AIDS, starting with the transmission from pregnant mothers to their children, yet that rate stays at 30.2% and is increasing rather than decreasing. There are medications that can prolong the lives of people so that they don't have to make their children orphans at such a young life, however if people get access to these medications it is normally too late. Although some people do know these facts, during the lecture we were questioned as to why these injustices still exist. We were asked what morals are had if we do not help these people when we are more than capable of doing so. It was a call to justice, and one that will really pertain to the service trip that we experience as we will be witnessing firsthand the results of these injustices. Please stay tuned during our trip and afterwards to see how we can take this information and these questions and the experience we will gain to attempt to influence the global organizations towards more ethical policies.