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.

Meetings Two and Three...

The group has gotten together two more times and has really gotten to know a little bit more about their fellow tripmates. The meetings allowed not only for some more personal interaction but also some more information about South Africa. In the last meeting we were able to discuss some about the culture of where we will be going as well as discussing information about HIV/AIDS in South Africa and all over the world. Some interesting pieces of information from this night were:

-South Africans spent more time at funerals than they did having their hair cut, shopping or having barbecues. It is also found that more than twice as many people had been to a funeral in the past month than had been to a wedding.
-In 1985 a State of Emergency was declared in South Africa that would last for five years. In the same yar, the Government set up the country's first AIDS Advisory Group in response to the increasingly apparent presence of HIV amongst South Africans. The first records case of AIDS in South AFrica was diagniosed in 1982.
-1996 The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 12.2%
-1999 The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 22.4%
-2001 The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 24.8%
-2005 The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 30.2%

There are more facts about AIDs, the history, the treatment, and just general information at the following link. The link is also where the above information came from. http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

There are also some facts on orphans due to AIDs including:
-UNAIDS estimated that there were 1.2 million South African children living as orphans due to AIDS in 2005, compared to 780,000 in 2003.42 Once orphaned, these children are then likely to face poverty, poor health and a lack of access to education. To read more information on this please click here: http://www.avert.org/aidsorphans.htm.