Raising Awareness

Workshops on AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Our Ottawa committee members give presentations that inform young people about AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Students at the high school level actually make African AIDS Angels as part of the presentation while students at the elementary school level are given an age-appropriate activity.

The goal is to make students aware of the pandemic and motivate them to think of creative ways to assist those who are infected or affected by AIDS.

You can help by letting us know if there is a school that would like a presentation on AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

What's Been Done to Date

Presentations have been given at the following elementary schools: St. Anthony’s, Holy Cross, Marguerite D’Youville, St. Brigid’s and Elmridge. Students at schools where presentations were made have gone on to create their own responses to the presentations. For example, after the presentation at St. Anthony’s, the students adopted the African AIDS Angels project as a fund-raising project in 2002 and again in 2003.

At the high school level, presentations on AIDS in Africa have been given at Sacred Heart, Youville Centre and St. Mark in Manotick.

In addition, presentations have been given for a number of years to the Canadian Student Commonwealth Forum. The Forum brings together eighty to ninety senior high school students from across Canada for a study week in Ottawa.

One of the 2001 Forum students started an African AIDS Angels project in Colonel Gray Senior High School in P.E.I. after attending our presentation. In April 2002, we received news that the Colonel Gray Senior High School Key Club won first prize for their AIDS Angels project as best Major Emphasis Project for all of Eastern Canada. A family member took up the project on her sister’s graduation and, in 2003, gave a speech and an angel-making workshop in Toronto at a KEY Club Convention (Newfoundland to Ontario). This project was declared the District Service Project for Eastern Canada for 2003-2004.

While our focus is on schools, we have also given an angel-making workshop for children at an event called “Imagine” at the National Library & Archives to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation in March 2004.

The African AIDS Angels Project has also been involved for a number of years in World AIDS Day.