Wrestling
With A Killer
African AIDS fighters meet with their Jewish
counterparts at MJAC's Southfield office.
DIANA LIEBERMAN
Copy Editor/Education Writer
T
Sadiya Adamu
• of Nigeria works on
educating the women of
her country about
HIV-AIDS through the
Muslim Sisters
Association.
he bubonic plague, which
ravaged medieval Europe in
the 14th. century, is esti-
mated to have killed about
30 million people. The U.S. Census
Bureau projects that, by 2010, sub-
Saharan Africa will have lost 71 mil-
lion people to the AIDS epidemic.
On June 28, nine African educators,
health professionals, religious and com-
munity leaders, all warriors in the fight
against HIV-AIDS, spent several hours
learning about the Work of the
Michigan Jewish AIDS Coalition
(MJAC). Their stop at MJAC's
Southfield offices was part of the delega-
tion's three-week tour of American
organizations, sponsored by the U.S.
Department of State. In Michigan, the
Detroit-based International Visitors
Council (IVC) coordinated the visit.
Regan Watson-Krdu, IVC program
director, said the delegation saw a dif-
ferent type of HIV-AIDS prevention
model in metro Detroit than it did in
Washington, D.C., Dallas and New
York City, the other destinations on
their tour.
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"The Detroit visit showed more
individuals and grassroots organiza-
tions being involved," she said. "In
many ways, closer to what they
have at home.
"They may come from a place where
their medical center consists of one
room and a doctor, if they're lucky.
Seeing what individuals can do, as
opposed to mammoth hospitals or
organizations, helps them re-energize
themselves. Hopefully, they can go
forward with renewed enthusiasm,"
Watson-Krdu said.
In addition to a vigorous discussion
of the methods used by MJAC, the
African delegation also watched a
video on HIV-AIDS prevention in •
faith-based organizations, assembled
from a 1999 satellite broadcast by the
Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta.
Andrea Nitzkin, who took over as
MJAC's interim director in February,
was among the experts featured on the
video. At the time, she had been
MJAC's program director.
Faith Based
MJAC is the only stand-alone reli-
giously based AIDS-fighting organi-
zation in Michigan, and, although
most of the visitors were Muslim,
they found much in common with
their Jewish counterparts.
"Part of our agenda is the well-
being of women," said Sadiya Adamu
of Nigeria, president of the Muslim
Sisters Association, Kano State
branch. "We want to work with
mothers and children together."
Nitzkin said the Southfield-based
organization tries to "provide an
avenue for families to talk about
issues that are frequently awkward
and difficult to talk about together."
These issues include a reality-based
approach to AIDS and HIV, the virus
that causes the incurable disease,
rather than just a blanket admonition
to "not do it."
In programs for high school and
middle school students, MJAC volun-
teers, accompanied by teen facilita-
tors, discuss the technical side of
AIDS, along with issues of self-
esteem, peer pressure and sexuality. If
the school or sponsoring organization
approves, the MJAC representatives
use models to demonstrate the use of
condoms.
"If we can work with parents and
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