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Students join Bono's AIDS efforts
March 25, 2003
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI - RELIGION REPORTER
Three months after U2's Bono and his gang of humanitarians visited Wheaton College to raise consciousness about AIDS in Africa, students and alumni are continuing to heed his call to action.
Activism at Wheaton, an evangelical Christian liberal arts college in DuPage County with a student body of about 2,500, has been among the most active of any of the schools Bono visited on his Heart of America tour in December, said Jamie Drummond, executive director of the rocker's organization, Debt AIDS and Trade in Africa.
"Wheaton blew Bono and the DATA crew away," Drummond said. "Wheaton is proving itself even more as a nerve center within America's heart and within a faith network that is waking up to the crisis in Africa," he said. "The college has played a critical role in persuading the president, his speechwriter and congressional leaders . . . to go way out in front on this."
Since early December, Wheaton students have formed a chapter of the Student Global AIDS Network, with three dozen active members who have begun to address local church and youth groups about AIDS in Africa.
Wheaton's students have even lobbied Capitol Hill to increase U.S. aid to Africans. A small group from the college met with Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) earlier this month to garner his support for increasing AIDS funding to Africa.
On Monday, Hyde reintroduced a bill that had passed the House of Representatives and died in the Senate last year for $3 billion in AIDS funding for Africa in 2004--$1 billion more than what the President had proposed. "I am very pleased that so many young people in my district, particularly students from Wheaton College, support the fight against AIDS," Hyde said Tuesday.
Wheaton students and alumni have also become active members of the DuPage Local AIDS Action Network, a collection of humanitarian groups and political organizations from the western suburbs.
Last weekend, two alumni from Wheaton's class of 1992 who heard Bono's presentation at Wheaton held a tea for about 70 women at the Glen Ellyn Boat House. Princess Kasune Zulu, an AIDS activist from Zambia who is HIV-positive and lost both her parents to AIDS at age 14, told her story to the gathering.
"We've been asked a lot of questions, like how did this happen, because . . . we don't usually throw teas for people from Zambia," said Wheaton alumna Shayne Moore, who with fellow classmate Juleen Ritchie hosted the tea. "The story is that we went to see Bono at Wheaton College when he did his Heart of America tour to raise awareness for AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. And we were blown away by the things we heard and the statistics, and the dooming crisis of 30 to 40 million AIDS orphans by the year 2010."
Wheaton junior Phil Rizk, co-president of the campus chapter of the Student Global AIDS Network, grew up in Egypt. A philosophy major, Rizk, 21, was struck by the arguments Bono made during his speech at Wheaton.
"I was just personally very affected by what was talked about," Rizk said. "I felt for the most part that I had a better perspective on world events than most people here, but on AIDS, I didn't."
Wheaton students plan to host a day-long symposium on AIDS at the end of April that will be open to all colleges in the western suburbs.
Copyright 2003, Digital Chicago Inc.
Students join Bono's AIDS efforts
March 25, 2003
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI - RELIGION REPORTER
Three months after U2's Bono and his gang of humanitarians visited Wheaton College to raise consciousness about AIDS in Africa, students and alumni are continuing to heed his call to action.
Activism at Wheaton, an evangelical Christian liberal arts college in DuPage County with a student body of about 2,500, has been among the most active of any of the schools Bono visited on his Heart of America tour in December, said Jamie Drummond, executive director of the rocker's organization, Debt AIDS and Trade in Africa.
"Wheaton blew Bono and the DATA crew away," Drummond said. "Wheaton is proving itself even more as a nerve center within America's heart and within a faith network that is waking up to the crisis in Africa," he said. "The college has played a critical role in persuading the president, his speechwriter and congressional leaders . . . to go way out in front on this."
Since early December, Wheaton students have formed a chapter of the Student Global AIDS Network, with three dozen active members who have begun to address local church and youth groups about AIDS in Africa.
Wheaton's students have even lobbied Capitol Hill to increase U.S. aid to Africans. A small group from the college met with Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) earlier this month to garner his support for increasing AIDS funding to Africa.
On Monday, Hyde reintroduced a bill that had passed the House of Representatives and died in the Senate last year for $3 billion in AIDS funding for Africa in 2004--$1 billion more than what the President had proposed. "I am very pleased that so many young people in my district, particularly students from Wheaton College, support the fight against AIDS," Hyde said Tuesday.
Wheaton students and alumni have also become active members of the DuPage Local AIDS Action Network, a collection of humanitarian groups and political organizations from the western suburbs.
Last weekend, two alumni from Wheaton's class of 1992 who heard Bono's presentation at Wheaton held a tea for about 70 women at the Glen Ellyn Boat House. Princess Kasune Zulu, an AIDS activist from Zambia who is HIV-positive and lost both her parents to AIDS at age 14, told her story to the gathering.
"We've been asked a lot of questions, like how did this happen, because . . . we don't usually throw teas for people from Zambia," said Wheaton alumna Shayne Moore, who with fellow classmate Juleen Ritchie hosted the tea. "The story is that we went to see Bono at Wheaton College when he did his Heart of America tour to raise awareness for AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. And we were blown away by the things we heard and the statistics, and the dooming crisis of 30 to 40 million AIDS orphans by the year 2010."
Wheaton junior Phil Rizk, co-president of the campus chapter of the Student Global AIDS Network, grew up in Egypt. A philosophy major, Rizk, 21, was struck by the arguments Bono made during his speech at Wheaton.
"I was just personally very affected by what was talked about," Rizk said. "I felt for the most part that I had a better perspective on world events than most people here, but on AIDS, I didn't."
Wheaton students plan to host a day-long symposium on AIDS at the end of April that will be open to all colleges in the western suburbs.
Copyright 2003, Digital Chicago Inc.
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