Culver Academies to host area high schools for “World AIDS Day” event

Part of yearlong effort to support programs promoting health and welfare of women and children

CULVER, Ind.  – A day of lectures, discussions and activities culminates with the Culver Girls Academy Leadership Committee for Africa hosting area high schools for a “World AIDS Day” program at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1, in Eppley Auditorium on the campus of the Culver Academies.

The event’s goal is to raise awareness of the AIDS crisis in Africa and while examining its impact on the world and the future of civilization. High school classes from Plymouth, Knox and Culver Community are expected to attend.

After the assembly at the Culver Academies, students and representatives will leave for Indianapolis, where they will lead a leadership session regarding the AIDS epidemic for students from Indianapolis area high schools. The gathering precedes a forum commemorating “World AIDS Day” to be held at 7:00 p.m. in St. Luke’s Methodist Center.

The meeting at Culver will outline the agenda of the CGA Leadership Committee for Africa, which seeks to help women and children in Africa in their battle against poverty and AIDS. Toward that end, the committee hopes to become a sister school to Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, seeks to initiate and support efforts for Culver Academies’ students to visit and work in Africa, looks to educate area communities about the AIDS crisis and wants to raise funds to help programs promoting the health, welfare and advancement of women and children.

This portion of the program will be followed by two presentations from Rob Stevens and Kimani Wangai. Rob, 18, hails from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As a sophomore, he teamed up with two other students to lead the first high school-based race relations forum in his city. Since then, the program has become an annual event for high school leaders across the city. More recently, he has been working to galvanize high school and university students to think boldly and creatively about the difference they can make in addressing the crisis of orphans in Africa and making the world more hospitable to the real exchange of ideas and mutual efforts between students.

Kimani, 16, is from Nairobi, Kenya. With his parents, he has been involved in the work of numerous churches, school groups and youth groups in Kenya as they work to alleviate the suffering caused by AIDS in their country. He speaks with a passion for the 1.8 million children orphaned in Kenya, and a bright sense of hope as young Kenyans work together to turn the tide against loss and despair.

            Kim and Rob have come to know one another through Kim’s parents, Drs. Paul and Mary Wangai. The Wangais have served as medical directors for New Life Home, a residence for abandoned infants in Nairobi, for 10 years and seen more than 600 abandoned infants nurtured back to health and placed in loving homes. When Rob was 12, his family visited the home, and Rob chose a baby, Joe, as his new younger brother.

            Following the presentations from Rob and Kim and a 15-minute film, the event will conclude with a question and answer session.