No passport required!
Walk through a free, interactive exhibit and for the first time experience the consequences of the AIDS epidemic from the perspective of the world’s poorest children.
Walk the virtual “Dirt Carpet,” experience the life of a child in Africa
The nationally touring, interactive Step Into Africa: World Vision Experience: AIDS exhibit is coming to Garland to raise awareness about the effects of the AIDS pandemic on children in developing countries. Volunteers from the Springcreek Church are hosting this innovative and non-denominational exhibit in order to engage the community on the issue of how AIDS and the lack of clean water is devastating parts of Africa.
“World Vision is providing local residents of the greater Dallas area with an opportunity to see, hear, and experience in a personal way, the lives of children whose worlds have been devastated by AIDS,” said Lorraine Kempf, outreach director at Springcreek Church. “The statistics are staggering. Worldwide, two million children are living with HIV and more than 15 million children have lost one or both parents because of AIDS. By 2010, that figure is expected to jump to 18 million.”
When visitors enter the church’s multipurpose room, turned into a 2,000 sq. ft. virtual African village, they will don headsets and “become” one of four real children — Kombo, Babirye, Emmanuel, or Mathabo — whose life has been affected by AIDS, and whose life has been touched by World Vision, one of the world’s leading charities for children. The exhibit is set in the hardest hit region of the world: Sub-Saharan Africa, where about 22 million people are infected with HIV, about two-thirds the world’s total.
The exhibit has visited over 100 cities since 2007, drawing 250,000 people. This year, World Vision is expected to visit an additional 25 cities and reach an additional 100,000 visitors.
“World Vision, unfortunately, cannot take thousands of Americans to Africa to witness the tragedy of the AIDS pandemic personally,” said Richard E. Stearns, president and CEO of World Vision, U.S. “So we’ve created this exhibit to enable people to ‘step into Africa’ and learn more about the effects of the greatest humanitarian disaster of our time and how they can help. No one can do everything, but each of us can do something to help turn the tide against AIDS.”
Step Into Africa: World Vision Experience: AIDS exhibit will be at the Springcreek Church on September 18-26.
Hours of operation are as follows:
September 18, 9 am – 3 pm and 6 pm – 9 pm;
September 19, 12:30 pm – 8 pm;
September 20 & 21, 10 am – 8 pm;
September 22-24, 11 am – 9 pm;
September 25, 9 am – 3 pm and 6 pm – 9 pm;
September 26,12:30 pm – 8 pm.
Reservations are available online and are strongly suggested.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, please visit www.worldvision.org.