GLOBAL: Toolkit Teaches Youth About AIDS

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

GLOBAL: Toolkit Teaches Youth About AIDS

Sunday News (Lancaster, Pa.) (12.14.03) - Friday, December 19, 2003
Helen Colwell Adams

The Mennonite Central Committee, a worldwide relief agency, has developed a "Join Hands, Stop AIDS" toolkit that uses Hershey's Kisses and Hugs for the "HIV Transmission Game," designed to show youth how quickly HIV/AIDS can spread and how the spread can be stopped through abstinence and marital fidelity.

The toolkit is part of MCC's "Generations at Risk" HIV/AIDS campaign, on which the agency will spend more than $1.5 million from 2004 to 2006. In the four-week curriculum, which has been distributed to churches over the past two months, youth groups learn how HIV/AIDS spreads, the scope of the problem, and what they can do about it. Brenda Wagner, "Generations at Risk" funding coordinator, said the toolkit allows teens to "lead the way" in educating their congregations about HIV/AIDS and its effect on the world.

Besides the game, the toolkit contains a DVD with videos outlining the AIDS pandemic and the response of the Mennonite church in Africa. It also includes a worship service on the AIDS crisis, instruction on packing an AIDS care kit, and opportunities to raise money for "Generations at Risk" through selling T-shirts and Christmas CDs.

One church in Lancaster County, Pa. is among those nationwide and in Canada that have requested the toolkit. Wagner said the kit's developers have been pleased by the responsiveness of Mennonite congregations. "We're highly encouraged by the level of concern," she said. Possibly, "it has to do with where the Mennonite church falls on the evangelical perspective. We have a calling here," Wagner said, "to stand with the children in other places in the world."
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