Edutainment: A night of entertainment and education on HIV/AIDS

From the Saint Cloud State University Newsletter

BATTLING THE AIDS PANDEMIC

St. Cloud State University students will lead a community effort to help HIV/AIDS-ravaged Africa.

Edutainment, hosted 7 p.m. Nov. 18 in Atwood Ballroom, will feature education and entertainment about the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Edutainment is sponsored by the Organization for the Prevention of AIDS in Africa (OPAA), a student organization in its seventh year of educating the St. Cloud area about human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Speakers, spoken-word artists, musicians and comedians will raise awareness about the 22.5 million Africans afflicted by HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS and the World Health Organization report (PDF) that at the end of 2007, sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to about 10 percent of the world’s population, had more than 60 percent of the world’s HIV/AIDS victims.

The Edutainers

Devin T. Robinson X will perform a one-man show called “God Did Not Give Me HIV.” The Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., poet, a motivational speaker and actor has gained national attention via the Apollo Theatre in New York City and appearances on televison networks such as MTV, NBC and BET.

Ibrahima “IBe” Kaba, an Eagan, Minn., spoken-word artist and poet, will take the stage, as will local poets, musicians and comedians. Kaba, a 2000 graduate of St. Cloud State, is the author of “Bridge Across Atlantic,” a collection of poems inspired by his journey from Africa into America. 

Joseph Edelheit, director of Jewish Studies and professor of philosophy at St. Cloud State, will speak. Edelheit is active in the HIV/AIDS fight in India.

Theo Morgan, OPAA’s founding president, will speak. He is a 2001 graduate of St. Cloud State.

Since 2001, OPAA has raised and donated about $42,000 for 14 African nations. OPAA fundraising events include carwashes, grills, talent shows, jams, hunger strikes and AIDS walks. Read a story about OPAA’s October 2008 fundraising dance.

For more information, contact Helmie Teketay, OPAA president, at 320-224-4133.

-Jeff Wood