Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Broken Heart.

Hey Guys,

Yesterday Rachel and I were at this store called Jet looking for cheap winter clothes and I saw a banner that broke my heart. Like most shops, Jet has a program where you pay a small amount a month and you get discounts. The thing about Jet's club is the program doesn't help you purchase clothes or get discounts of vacations or anything like that, it gives you discounts on funerals. If you were to look at this from a distance it seems comical, however the truth of the matter is there are so many people dying in southern Africa from HIV/AIDs that these programs are all over the place. What we have here in Southern Africa is an epidemic where millions of people have AIDS. There is a bordering country called Swaziland and they say if nothing is done against the spread of AIDS that is something like 50 or 60 years only 10% of the country will survive. It is staggering. One of the problems is lack of knowledge. We have heard of HIV/AIDs for the past 20 years, however there are many people in this country that has never heard of it. There is a campaign now to spread information about HIV/AIDs, but it is not everywhere yet. Check out: http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/appeals.nsf/stable/olr_home there is a lot of information about the HIV/AIDs crisis in southern Africa. Please also consider the problem in your own town. American's don't know so much about the problem, but there is a growing number of cases in the States. I am not just talking about NYC or San Fran, it is a growing problem all over. Just something to think about.

Chris

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