AEGiS-PRn: Art Exhibit Brings Awareness, Understanding, Hope for AIDS Orphans

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Art Exhibit Brings Awareness, Understanding, Hope for AIDS Orphans

PRNewswire - November 3, 2006

ISSAQUAH, Wash., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The global AIDS crisis is measured in staggering numbers: 38.6 million now living with the disease, and more than 25 million deaths since 1981. The impact of AIDS is overwhelming: 4.1 million adults and children newly infected in 2005. Africa alone has 12 million AIDS orphans, who have lost one or both parents to this brutal disease. By 2010, estimates predict at least 25 million worldwide. As the number of adults dying of AIDS rises over the next decade, increasing numbers of orphans will grow up without parental care and love, and be deprived of their basic rights to shelter, food, health and education.

AIDS orphans experience this global calamity on a very personal scale, caught in a daily struggle to survive. Through Catholic Relief Services, the creative works and stories of AIDS orphans around the world have been brought together in a compelling multimedia exhibit: The Children Left Behind: AIDS Orphans Around the World. Stunning images of these children are combined with their original art, drawings and stories, transforming statistical reports into profound interpersonal understanding.

Experience this compelling, FREE multi-media exhibit featuring the creative works and stories that capture life through the eyes of AIDS orphans and other children left vulnerable by HIV/AIDS from Uganda, South Africa, India, Cambodia and Guatemala.

-- November 15-December 29, 2006 --

Bellevue Regional Library | 1111 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA

-- December 30-January 28, 2007 --

Rainier Square Concourse | 4th Avenue between Union & University Streets, Seattle, WA

Mon-Fri 6 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun and holidays 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

This exhibit has been brought to Puget Sound through the efforts, commitment and financial support of many. Profound thanks to Catholic Relief Services; the Missions Office of the Archdiocese of Seattle; the King County Library System Foundation; The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Centers for AIDS Research, University of Washington; The Boys and Girls Club of Bellevue; Seattle University; King County; Global Partnerships; WBBA-the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association; UNICO; Eastside Catholic High School; Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center; Leadership Tomorrow.

For more information on the exhibit visit: http://www.thechildrenleftbehind.org .

Subject: The King County Library System will host the first Northwest showing of "The Children Left Behind: AIDS Orphans Around the World" at the Bellevue Regional Library, 1111 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA November 15-December 29, 2006

Background: (information compiled from UNICEF, UNAIDS and USAID report, Children on the Brink 2004 http://data.unaids.org/pub/GlobalReport/2006/20060530-Q-A_PartI_en.pdf ) Every day, AIDS claims as many lives as the total number of American fatalities during the entire Vietnam War. By the end of 2005, an estimated 15 million children had lost one or both parents to AIDS-the vast majority in Africa-and many millions more were affected. By 2010, estimates predict at least 25 million children will be orphaned by AIDS.

SOURCE King County Library System

http://www.kcls.org

http://www.thechildrenleftbehind.org

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