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Twenty-eight million people in Africa suffer from HIV/AIDS. Almost 65,000 people die daily in Africa from HIV/AIDS. Eleven million children are left orphaned due to the disease. The statistics are discouraging but Abbie Asha Marambika Shawa, a native from the small, sub-Saharan African country of Malawi, is hopeful.

Shawa, a Catholic Relief Services Program department manager, traveled to Villanova on Nov. 11, to give a talk titled “Hope Rising: Healing Together HIV/AIDS in Africa.” The College of Nursing and the Africana Studies Program sponsored this Peace and Justice Education fall lecture.

Shawa, who lives in Malawi, is on a United States-Africa Campaign Speaking Tour with the Catholic Relief Services (CRS). His goal in talking to Americans is to try to stimulate awareness of the HIV/AIDS problem in Africa, encourage solidarity, mobilize resources and inspire hope in order to combat the epidemic in Africa.

The talk was highlighted by Shawa’s many personal experiences working with HIV/AIDS stricken communities within his home country of Malawi, which has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. Shawa became involved with CRS and its African HIV/AIDS project initiatives in 1996 after losing his brother to AIDS. In addition to working directly with the people, Shawa is responsible for proposal reviews, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of CRS project initiatives on HIV/AIDS.

Malawi is the 10th poorest country in the world. More than 80 percent of the Malawi people live on less than one U.S. dollar a day. The country has a population of 11 million people and 15 percent of the adult population (15 to 49 years of age) is infected with HIV/AIDS. The extreme poverty in the country prevents those citizens suffering from the disease to receive proper medication or food. Shawa believes stabilizing the food supply and supporting activities designed to generate much-needed income among affected households as an important step in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The statistics and Shawa’s experience show that the female youth of Malawi are most at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, 46 percent of all new infections occur in youth, (10 to 24 years of age) and 60 percent of those new cases are females. CRS is trying to reduce the number of young people with the virus by providing community care in which they help form anti-AIDS youth clubs that teach young people prevention through behavior change and life-skills education. CRS is also working to reduce the stigma that surrounds AIDS-afflicted people.
CRS had much success, considering the service has already allocated $17 million for AIDS projects in Africa, impacting 2 million people in 30 countries. Yet, CRS has still more work to do. Many social justice issues paralyze struggling African people. Grave circumstances still persist throughout Africa.

Nevertheless, Shawa approaches the plight of his people with hope. He talked of the resilience of the African society and the power and spirit of the African family that is deeply rooted in African culture. He also hopes that more people will join the thousands of American CRS volunteers, who follow the guidelines of the Catholic Church to provide a caring and compassionate response to the African people. Shawa invited everyone at the lecture to express their solidarity with Africa through advocacy efforts aimed at the American government. On behalf of CRS, Villanovans were encouraged to write their political representatives to ask for increased annual funding for global health, more access to medicines and for debt relief and cancellation for heavily indebted countries in Africa. Shawa was the face of hope and inspired Villanovans to become a voice.