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Professor Levers with preschool kids
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Humanitarian Efforts Against HIV/AIDS An estimated
33,000 people die from AIDS-related causes each
year in Botswana and 190,000 women and 25,000
children are currently living with HIV/AIDS. As
a counselor and a humanitarian, Lisa Lopez Levers
crossed the Atlantic to help alleviate this epidemic.
Lopez Levers, an assistant professor of education
at Duquesne University, received a year-long Fulbright
grant to Botswana to teach graduate courses at
the University of Botswana's Counselor Education
Program and conduct research for her project entitled
"Sustainable HIV/AIDS Abatement Endeavors
in Southern Africa: Considering Contextual Factors
and Designing Culturally Relevant and Gender-Sensitive
Counseling and Education Activities."
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Professor Levers colleagues
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During her grant, Lopez Levers assisted the university
in developing a master's counseling program, delivered
a keynote speech on the culture of traditional
healing in southern Africa and advised students.
She also spent time in the local communities conducting
research and collaborating with over 15 villages
and towns to develop community-based services
for children affected by HIV/AIDS, especially
for the over 120,000 children who have been orphaned
through the disease.
Additionally, Lopez Levers designed the Botswana
Integrated Resilient Child and Strengthened Community
Project and Registered Trust in Botswana, Counseling
for Health International, a group ensuring that
resources reach grassroots organizations helping
children affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Lopez Levers told the Duquesne University Times
that including the local authorities, educators,
tribal leaders and traditional healers in the
HIV/AIDS discussion and cooperating with them
to develop a culturally appropriate method of
prevention and treatment is essential for fighting
the disease. "The sooner we intervene with
children at risk, the greater the possibility
becomes that we might prevent serious problems
later in life," she said. "If I can
assist in preventing such damage, pain and suffering,
then I feel that I may have contributed something."
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"International education
exchange is the most significant current project
designed to continue the process of humanizing
mankind to the point, we would hope, that
nations can learn to live in peace"
--J. William Fulbright |
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