First Presbyterian Church in Bethlehem will host the 'World Vision Experience: AIDS -- Step into Africa' interactive exhibit

If you haven't been to Africa, it's hard to know the impact of HIV/AIDS on its people.

"The pandemic has infiltrated the country, leaving behind more than 15 million orphans who have lost one or both parents," says Pam Bowman, interim coordinator for mission and outreach at First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem.

The Lehigh Valley will get an up-close-and-personal account of the pandemic when First Presbyterian hosts the "World Vision Experience: AIDS -- Step into Africa" multimedia, interactive exhibit running Friday through Oct. 13.

The stop is part of an 80-city U.S. tour which already has had more than 100,000 visitors.

The public is encouraged to visit the Bethlehem church and take the free, 30-minute walk through the 2,340-square-foot replica of an African village in the church gymnasium.

Each visitor will wear a headset to hear a personal audio track that tells the true stories of four children affected by HIV and AIDS in the hardest-hit region of the world -- Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to World Vision, a Christian relief and development organization, t

The pandemic goes far beyond Africa. Statistics show that about 33 million people globally are living with HIV or AIDS; last year, more than 2.5 million were newly infected.

"If people could hear the individual stories of children who have been affected by the disease, they would have a better understanding of its devastation," says Bowman, who has twice visited the exhibit -- in Baltimore and New Providence, N.J.

After spending time in the African villages of Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe while visiting her daughter who works in public health in Kenya, Bowman experienced first-hand the faces of orphaned children left to fend for themselves in raising their siblings. She looked helplessly into the eyes of many who lay dying.

Being familiar with World Vision's humanitarian efforts in Africa, Bowman says she is excited to have the support of her congregation and its pastor, the Rev. Alf Halvorson.

Bowman says the church is providing more than 200 volunteers necessary to host the exhibit. Training has been provided for teachers who will be accompanying their age-appropriate students through the exhibit. Follow-up activities for the congregation include a related, four-week Bible study provided by World Vision.

"Hopefully, the exhibit will impact people -- especially our young people -- with a greater awareness and commitment in fighting AIDS," Bowman says.

She adds her church will continue to support World Vision's area development program in Quacha Birra, Ethiopia, and plans to reach out to orphans at Ministry of Hope, a community-based orphan care program in Malawi.

Jessica Ohlsen, tour communications manager with the Seattle-based World Vision organization, handles logistics on the road between her team of four and the host churches.

"The exhibit is very experiential," Ohlsen says. "We physically have had to hold people up as they walked through. Some say they feel shame to see people living like this. They see a child, through no fault of his or her own, who has a death sentence. The real fact is, HIV/AIDS does not discriminate. It affects everyone. Everyone can connect and do something about it."

Susan Kalan is arts & entertainment editor for The Express-Times. She can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at skalan@express-times.com.