Emmanuel

For 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon, I had the chance to step into the life of Emmanuel, a four-year-old boy from Uganda who lost both of his parents to AIDS. I walked with Emmanuel and older brother Fred to an aunt’s home seeking shelter and help, eventually ending up in a ‘home’ of banana leaves with one blanket, a knife, and a cooking pot. The rains brought many hard days of hunger and sickness to Emmanuel and his brother. Later, I sat in the health clinic with Emmanuel, waiting to find out if the same disease to take his parents would claim his life as well. But then I met a worker from World Vision who helped Emmanuel and Fred out of their poverty and sickness into a new world of nourishment, education, and love.

This journey, put on by World Vision, was part of a 2,500 square foot interactive exhibit traveling around the country to various churches, educating and informing people of the AIDS crisis in Africa. Connecting to people through photographs and visual set-ups & reinactments, the tour is incredibly powerful and impactful. Each participant is asked to step into the life of one of four children who have been affected by the HIV virus. Built soley on real life stories, participants walk through a 30-minute audio tour and experience a piece of the child's world. The tour is making its way through the states, hoping to reach many with their message.

If you get a chance to be apart of this experience, it is certainly worth your time. You can go to the links below to find out more information about World Vision and the AIDS Experience.

World Vision
World Vision Experience: AIDS