June, 2003
The week after our departure from Project Mercy, the students held this event at the BIG market in Butajera. The focus of the effort was to educate the community about HIV/AIDS....
how it is spread, the helpful part ABSTINENCE plays ....and how it can be contained.
Students wrote poems and songs that they used to gather interested parties from the market area. Then they spoke about ways families can stay safe from infection. See and HEAR a song written by one of the students!
AIDS is currently a terrible problem in Ethiopia.....
it has the third highest HIV positive rate in the world (right behind India and
South Africa). Children are being born with the virus and special
orphanages are set up to keep them as comfortable as possible as the disease
progresses and soon takes their short lives.
Within a very short period of time, Ethiopian people will begin dying by the thousands from this terrible plague. The practice of polygamy in the community around Project Mercy is certain to have a detrimental impact should the AIDS virus be introduced to these country people. Project Mercy is doing it's part to educate it's students...hoping that they will change their behaviors, and pass the information on to their peers, families and the community at large.
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