A Jesuit priest in southern India, along with local Jesuit school students, has launched an AIDS-awareness campaign conducted mostly by children orphaned by the disease. A 16-member theater group is traveling with a play promoting prevention as the only cure for AIDS. "People in this area commit suicide when they get to know they have contracted AIDS," said theater group member Kunda Deepthi, age 10. "I plead with all so that such people may live."
The program is a joint venture by the students of the local Jesuit school and two Hindu doctors. "The future of the church lies in collaborating with lay people, and the present program is one such ‘stepping stone' for lay, intercultural, and interdenominational collaboration," says Jesuit Arulanandam Elango.