Putting a Face on AIDS in Africa

Rob Stephens
Winston-Salem, NC
Issue: HIV/AIDS orphans
Age: 19

Rob Stephens spent much of his junior year coming up with ways to help people in his community understand the plight of AIDS orphans in Africa. But it wasn't until that summer—when Rob was volunteering at an orphanage in Kenya—that he came face to face with the harsh reality of the crisis. After spending an afternoon playing with Susanna, a baby whose parents had died of AIDS, Rob learned that she and other children would be tested for HIV that night. Susanna tested negative, but other children did not.

After the summer in Kenya, Rob returned to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with an even greater determination to help people in his community understand the reality of the crisis. The key to his success came through creating different projects based on people's interests. Artistic students did their part by making necklaces from beads that Rob had brought back from Kenya, which they sold to raise money for AIDS orphans; athletes and sports fans helped by participating in a statewide charity basketball game that Rob organized, which raised money and awareness for the Kenyan orphanages. 

To ensure the continued existence of the project, Rob recruited teachers and younger students from area schools to maintain the relationship with the orphanages after he left for college. Rob led a delegation of more than 20 students and teachers from North Carolina to Kenya, where they visited local orphanages and HIV/AIDS clinics, met with organizations working in the field, and participated in a day-long conference with students from Nairobi University about working across borders to stop the spread of AIDS.

As he continues to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, Rob said, "It becomes clearer and clearer that America will not only help save Africa, but that Africa will help save us. And neither will happen without the other."