International (MNN)–World AIDS Day is December 1. The pandemic is claiming whole generations, leaving behind millions of orphans.
World Vision is partnering with a grassroots program called ‘Acting on AIDS’ aimed at college students. Director Jyl Hall. “Historically, college students have always been a part of any kind of movement where social change has happened. I think that they have the social and emotional capital, and they’re in a place where forming their ideas about the world and what that’s going to mean for their vocation beyond college.”
It’s all about change. Hall says the program now includes 100 campuses across the U-S…”to raise awareness about global AIDS with the focus on orphans and vulnerable children and to change hearts, especially of students, in order to start thinking of the AIDS pandemic and the millions and millions of children orphaned by it as an issue of discipleship as well as one caring for the poor.”
As future leaders impassioned by the suffering of those affected by HIV and AIDS, students recognized the need to create a movement that fulfills the Biblical mandate to take care of orphans and widows.
As part of the ‘Acting on AIDS’ program, participants from various campuses will be given pictures of orphans and vulnerable children to be placed on metal or wooden stakes in the ground.
Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to take a picture, read the story of the child on the back, hang it around their neck and pray for that child throughout the remainder of the day.
By putting a face to the cost of the disease, people begin to understand how individuals can make small but powerful steps in turning the tide against HIV/AIDS.
Click here if you want to get involved in the fight against AIDS.
