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Here I am a couple days late and more than a few dollars short. But, better late than never, right? OK – done with the cliches (actually, I have more . . .!) Seriously, I was delighted to see that Georgetown University focused their MLK Day tribute on the AIDS pandemic in Africa.
“The world still needs [King's] dream and we must continue to live the dream,” Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia said at the university’s annual Let Freedom Ring program in the Concert Hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “We shall overcome the threat of AIDS in Africa, the United States and everywhere, and we will create a symphony of brotherhood.”
From the university’s news site, the article details Monday nights events:
Throughout the evening, speakers likened King’s appeals for unity to today’s AIDS pandemic and America’s responsibility to address the problem. DeGioia told the audience that King’s “I Have a Dream” speech especially is relevant to combating the effects of AIDS.
The organization’s members are attempting to use their influence to not only encourage grassroots efforts to find homes, medicine and clothing for children impacted by HIV/AIDS, but to change global attitudes about the disease. The organization’s primary initiative, “Treat Every Child as Your Own,” launched in 2005 to promote adult responsibility to protect all African children from the dangers of HIV infection.
AIDS is ravaging African nations, but people there are doing their best to cope and rise above the disease, said Maureen Mwanawasa, first lady of Zambia and chair of the organization. As many as one in nine African children have lost a parent to AIDS, she told the audience. Many of those are taken in by other families, some led by single mothers, some infected with the disease themselves.
“The situation has changed. The situation will change. The situation is changing,” Mwanawasa said, noting that Africans are helping each other persevere through the disease.
It is not uncommon, she explained, to find women throughout the continent who have taken in 30 children orphaned by AIDS.
“We must show that Africa is not just about wars and failed states,” Mwanawasa said. “Good can come from Africa. Good does come from Africa.”
She accepted the award along with two other first ladies from the organization: vice chair Azeb Mesfin of Ethiopia and former chair Jeannette Kagame of Rwanda.
Kagame implored attendees to remember King’s teachings that people must pick each other up in times of need for the greater good.
“Next time you come across a child in pain from hunger and disease, don’t ask why, don’t ask how. Just treat that child as your own,” she said.
Do you ever feel like you are just not doing enough? I’ve “taken in” 16 children – not even close to 30 – and am feeling like we are getting close to being done. Yet here I am – blessed in abundance to live in a large home, have plenty of food, access to medical care and lots of love. I am always blown away by the love of the African people. Can I do just a little more? Yup, I probably can . . .
(Photo from the OAFLA web site)
