Real AK-47

Considering the time and money the Presbyterian Church at New Providence has spent publicizing the World Vision Experience: AIDS exhibit, I was disappointed by how few people attended last night. I hope that when I go back the front-page article in the TwoDays section of this morning's Star-Ledger will galvanize the public.

The only way WorldVision could have made the experience more authentic would have been to hand me a ticket to sub-Saharan Africa. Or at least a bowl of groundnut stew. I knew I had arrived when I heard the drummers playing and singing by the side of the road. Once I got to the tent, a volunteer handed me an iPod.

Each iPod is loaded with a story about a child living in a country battling AIDS. Depending on which narrative you receive, you walk through different chambers with artifacts representing that child's life. Mine included an AK-47 for a Ugandan child kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army. I was encouraged to sit or lie down on his cheap foam bedding, but it was too small for me. The place smelled of sisal. The sound effects included rheumy coughs. Considering that this exhibit must be portable enough to travel to 15 cities before the end of October, it is a marvel of interactivity.

I invited my neighbors to go back with me. They worried that it might be too graphic for their daughter, a tween. Yes, when I thought about it, the narrative did mention girls as young as eight turned into sex slaves. But, and this is a question I cannot answer for them, how vigorously and how long can they defend her innocence? Aren't the suffering African girls children, too?

When I go back I will ask if there is a narrative more appropriate to young children. If they say yes, I will post it here.

World Vision Experience: AIDS
Presbyterian Church at New Providence
1307 Springfield Avenue, New Providence, NJ
7/26 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
7/27 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There are many ways to help. My own church has actively supported the Good Shepherd Home in Bamenda, Cameroon, for years. Before we can help, though, we have to understand the problem. WorldVision has done a superior job in promoting understanding through all the senses.