wfn.org | CRWRC Sponsors Renowned AIDS Author at Calvin College Lecture Series

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Beth DeGraff, CRWRC Media Contact, 1-800-55-CRWRC or cell 616-648-7821

Heidi Lidtke, CRWRC HIV and AIDS Program Officer, 1-800-55-CRWRC or cell 408-398-5284

CRWRC Sponsors Renowned AIDS Author at Calvin College Lecture Series

JANUARY 14, 2009 ? The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (www.crwrc.org) is partnering with Calvin College January Series to underwrite the January 15th presentation of Dr. Helen Epstein, author of the 2007 Viking UK publication, "The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight against AIDS."

Epstein is has authored five books to date, three of which have made The New York Times list of notable books of the year. Her background in journalism, tropical medicine, and years of research in developing countries have resulted in a work that The Times calls "both enlightening and troubling."

At www.guardian.co.uk, Epstein noted that, in places like Uganda where the AIDS epidemic turned around in the 1990s, "the key to fighting AIDS
(lay)?.in something that can best be described as a sense of solidarity, compassion and mutual aid that is impossible to quantify or measure. It has to be that way."

As a relief and development agency active in more than thirty developing countries around the world, CRWRC is unique placed within communities to help mold social norms to adapt old traditions or begin new ones.

CRWRC has responded to the AIDS pandemic for nearly 2 decades through integrated, community-based responses in partnership with in-country Christian churches and organizations. CRWRC's AIDS programs address prevention, behavior modification, patient care, caregiver respite, orphan care, and community intervention based on organizing and input from community members.

"Epstein's underlying principle is to let communities with HIV to develop their own answers to AIDS in their community without outside ideological or political influences," says Heidi Lidtke, CRWRC HIV and AIDS Program Officer. "She is remarkably clear in her description on how sexual practice results in differences in the spread of HIV."

Epstein urges Americans and the Global North to advocate for international assistance that coordinates with local community efforts to establish programs that are needs-based.

CRWRC has a 2-year, $3 million awareness-building and fundraising campaign, Embrace AIDS, to help address the disease in countries and communities most affected by it. To date, CRWRC has received
$2.47 million for Embrace AIDS, which runs through 2010.

Heidi Lidtke, CRWRC HIV and AIDS Program Officer, is available for interview regarding CRWRC's community-based, integrated relief and development programs and HIV and AIDS responses at 408-398-5284.

For more information about the January Series, go to www.calvin.edu. To learn more about Dr. Helen Epstein and her work, go to www.helenepstein.com.

Resources and downloads from CRWRC's Embrace AIDS Campaign are available at www.embraceaids.org, and online access for students and young adults is located at www.iembraceaids.com. Those interested in donating to CRWRC's AIDS response can give online at both of those sites, at www.crwrc.org, or call in to 1-800-55-CRWRC.