Aug. 24--Babirye lives in a fishing village in Uganda. She loves singing with her twin sister, holds faith in God close and finds solace in a beachside church.
Her father died from AIDS when she was 5, and her mother suffers the same disease. While her twin is healthy and active, Babirye, born with HIV, now shows outward signs of illness.
Babirye, now 14, is one of 15 million children in Uganda who are affected by HIV and AIDS. Her tale is part of a virtual exhibit that transports the visitor to an African village to hear about her as well as other children, Kombo, Emmanuel and Mathabo.
World Vision Experience: AIDS -- Step Into Africa, opened Friday and will run through Tuesday at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village.
The free traveling exhibit, developed by World Vision U.S., takes each visitor through the sights and sounds of a small African village and the children whose lives have been affected by the AIDS pandemic.
One-tenth of the world's population lives in sub-Saharan Africa, but it is home to almost two-thirds of all people living with HIV. More than 11 million children have been orphaned by the disease.
"The statistics are overwhelming, but when you get to know each child in this way, it becomes more personal," said Jeff Witten, the area director of World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization that works with children, families and communities to reach their full potential by tackling causes of poverty and injustice.
Since August of last year, the traveling exhibit has garnered about 11,900 sponsorships to help children affected by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
About 4,500 people are expected to walk through the Calvary exhibit, organizers said. Six area churches and about 300 volunteers worked over the past year to bring the exhibit to Ventura County, said Kirk DeWitt, a community/world pastor with Calvary Community Church.
DeWitt went to Africa last year and has seen these villages where parents have died and left children behind. People in the United States don't usually see this deeper level of suffering, he said.
"You can't meet a person over there who hasn't been affected by AIDS," DeWitt said. "It was just so shocking. AIDS has become normal."
The exhibit introduces the children, shows their daily lives and puts the visitors in their shoes.
People walk through doorways, sit on beds and study photos of people and villages while listening to a narrator and a child's voice explaining their experiences.
Statistics like, "Four in five people in Uganda live on less than $1 a day," and "of the 28 million people with HIV and AIDS, 1 million of them are children," are read throughout the exhibit.
The voice that portrays Babirye says: "Mother, you must believe in God, but she does not believe."
The narrator says the mother throws up blood, and her body then goes still. Babirye's uncle drives her to another village, and the twins are left alone for four months.
There is a church by the beach, and Babirye finds solace with a kind pastor, the narrator says. "God will take care of you. Pray for your mother."
After four months, we are told Babirye's mother is much healthier after she found God. She then becomes a volunteer and a devout Christian and helps care for those who suffer from the disease, including her daughter.
The exhibit has a strong connection to prayer and Christianity.
It is billed as being open to everyone, regardless of religious orientation.
However, one California Lutheran University professor who specializes in sexually transmitted diseases said although prayer and faith can lower stress levels and create optimism for healing, the line should be drawn at saying prayer and religion alone can heal.
"It wouldn't be right to promote a belief in God or connection to any religion as the cure to any disease," said Adina Nack, an associate professor of sociology at CLU, who is active with the HIV/AIDS Coalition of Ventura County.
At the end, visitors wait in an AIDS clinic to hear the children's test results.
The waiting room was the hardest for Stephanie Luckett, 17, who followed the life story of Emmanuel. Emmanuel's parents died, and his relatives wouldn't take him into their homes.
He was orphaned, like many children, but he tested negative for HIV.
"I thought it was really sad. I almost cried," Luckett said.
Visitors here play the roles of the patients, awaiting test results. At the end, they walk out the door with either red plus signs stamped on their right hands or gray minus signs.
Luckett walked out with a negative stamp. She was visiting the exhibit with several other youths from New Life Community Church in Artesia.
They were also in the middle of a 30-hour fast for hunger relief. They raised more than $1,500 for the cause and are donating the money to World Vision.
At the end of the exhibit, a dark room is covered with black and white photos of children. The final room is a prayer wall, where notes can be left for the children.
One reads: "We pray for you and your family, Babirye." To see more of the Ventura County Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.venturacountystar.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Ventura County Star, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008 Ventura County Star, Calif.