Monday, December 05, 2005

World AIDS Day - Dec 1st


At work on Dec 1st we got to take a field trip! We all piled into a couple of buses and headed to Seattle. We were able to go through the One Life AIDS exhibit. It was incredible to walk through the life of one of the children and what he or she experiences. It is more than any of us could imagine having to deal with in a lifetime. I was "Stephen" from Uganda and I was forced from my home at night by rebel soldiers looking for children to serve in their "Lord's Resistance Army." These rebel soldiers take children as young as 7 yrs old and train them to use guns, brutally threatening and beating them to make them obey. They even take girls to use the guns as well, and to be used as sex slaves for men. It is horrendous.

I appreciated the experience of walking in the shoes of one of these children. It transforms you into their home, their culture, and their experiences. Hopefully it transforms those that walk through to know they can do something about the atrocities. This exhibit has been touring all over the US to make people aware, so we can put an end to it.

Watch a video of the AIDS experience
Test your knowledge on AIDS

Thanks for reading.