AIDS… AIDS my friend AIDS is very dangerous. The poetic words of a young African boy. What a touching poem. You can hear him read it here.

Today Mike, Alice and I hosted a compassion weekend event at the Gift of Love up in Pacifica. We started the morning listening to Caroline Klaus. Caroline is a doctor with a heart for HIV/AIDS who has traveled the world connecting with many people touched by the disease. She gave a great talk about HIV/AIDS and the important role the church can play in the global crisis. She suggested that HIV/AIDS is the biggest human health crisis the world has ever faced.

After the talk, we rounded up the crew and carpooled up to the Gift of Love. The goal for the day was to work with the residents to build 100 World Vision care packages for Africa. The care packages will be sent to individuals in Africa that are helping to care for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. We had planned to spend from 10am to 3pm building the care packages. With all the help we had, building the care packages only ended up taking about an hour and half. We spent the rest of the day sharing lunch with some of the residents, hanging out, and taking care of some odds and ends for the sisters around the house.

While we were there, someone mentioned the Got Cents? campaign to gather a penny for everyone who has died of AIDS in Africa since the end of 2004. Before we knew it, two of the residents produced their penny jars for us to take back and contribute to the campaign. That may have been the highlight of the day.

Tags: AIDS, compassion, mppc