The focus of this trip is HIV/AIDS education in association with Living Hope Community Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. Living Hope focuses on the prevention of HIV and AIDS, as well as the care and treatment of infected patients in that area.

Our team uses drama and music to reach out to public school students to teach them about HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness and to connect them with the many programs Living Hope has to offer--programs like kids' clubs, health programs, and support for AIDS sufferers. In fact, this connection with the schools increased the demand for life-skills workers from 1 (that's one worker for ALL the schools in the area) in 2006--the year we first started our presentations--to the current number of 34 employed life-skills workers!

Our presentation does more than simply reach out to the students. It also promotes abstinence as a preventative measure against HIV/AIDS. One of the goals is to push up the average age of first sexual contact. Most children in South Africa are sexually active by age 12. Programs in Uganda have pushed up the average age by two years and have seen an incredible decline in HIV/AIDS cases.

To find out more about supporting or participating in the South Africa Mission team, contact Dave Horton at dhorton@pathwayonline.com.