Professor ph Edelheit founds AIDS org in India

[Guest guest]

Professor ph Edelheit founds AIDS org in India

ph Edelheit helped found an organization that builds orphanages

for kids.

Katye s

In a world with thousands of possible causes to support, SCSU's

professor of philosophy and director of religious studies, Rabbi

ph Edelheit, encourages students not to overlook HIV/AIDS

awareness.

" What does it mean when we say that by 2010 more than 100 million

people will have been infected by this disease? More and more people

are affected by AIDS, and at some point the world will have to deal

with all those infected, " Edelheit said.

As co-founder of Living India, Edelheit devotes his time and energy

to help support the approximate 10 million people in India who are

infected with HIV.

Edelheit says the first step toward prevention of HIV/AIDS is

creating awareness through education. But in predominantly

impoverished countries such as India, illiteracy creates a roadblock

to learning.

" Even if you had access to all the AIDS drugs in the world, how would

you teach a person how and when to take 16 pills a day if they could

not read? " Edelheit said.

On each of the several trips he has made to India, Edelheit gave

lectures to multi-faith leaders on how to teach, preach and serve

people affected by HIV/AIDS, emphasizing the need to break down the

social stigma the disease carries within many religious communities.

A more specific outreach of Edelheit's involvement with the Living

India Organization has been his work to create an orphanage over the

past two summers to house 50 of the estimated one million Indian

children who have lost parents to AIDS.

While students can support the cause by donating funds to projects

like the orphanage, Edelheit also stresses the impact of simple

awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

" We don't read about AIDS except on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, " Edelheit

said.

Edelheit said one

explanation for American youth's apathy toward AIDS awareness could

be the categorizing of certain types of people who are infected with

the virus.

People who are not part of groups that stereotypically have the

disease may look at the problem with a sense of removed ignorance.

Another probable cause of unawareness according to Edelheit is the

inadequacy of HIV/AIDS curricula in our own educational systems.

In high school health classes, students may spend one or two class

periods devoted to HIV/AIDS at the most, usually accompanied by other

discussions of sexually transmitted diseases and abstinence as well,

Edelheit said.

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to grow as a world crisis and

activists like Professor Edelheit urge others to increase awareness

and take action.

To learn more for yourself, visit these websites:

www.livingindia.org, www.aidscalgary.org, www.until.org, and

www.unaids.org

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