ShawneeDispatch.com

No one knew -- or at least admitted they knew -- AIDS was a problem in Schaun Colin's homeland of South Africa when he emigrated to the Kansas City area in 1993.

But when young parents began dying, there was no more brushing under the rug for the epidemic that would only worsen over the next 10 years. By his first trip home, just two years later, Colin had visited his first AIDS orphanage.

"That really touched my heart," Colin said. "I really got to see my country through new eyes. These kids are HIV-positive, and they've done absolutely zero, zip, nada to deserve it."

Colin knew he had to do something, and Oceans of Mercy was founded.

The organization aims to help people affected by AIDS near Colin's hometown of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where the disease is promulgated by shame, myths and a social structure set in place by apartheid. Plans are now materializing for an orphanage and community center, with manpower and donations from Shawnee and its neighbors providing the project's primary fuel.

Oceans of Mercy Board of Directors member Don Gerdts said the charity wasn't as big as many global relief efforts but that it had the capability to be more personal -- especially for the AIDS orphans who will live there.

"Lord willing, we'll have 70-something kids receiving love, care and attention, and getting to live a life that hopefully will be somewhat complete. For some, they'll get to die with dignity," Gerdts said. "And a few people over here in Shawnee, Kansas, get to touch the lives of 72 kids."

Oceans of Mercy is specifically targeting Motherwell, a township on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, one of the southernmost cities on the South African cape.

Colin himself has made many trips on behalf of the charity. Friday, he again left for South Africa, this time with three other Shawnee residents in tow.

The trip coincides with World AIDS Day, globally recognized today, Dec. 1.Gerdts, George Gambill and Gambill's daughter, Amanda, a Mill Valley High School student, are gathering facts and meeting with the South African government about land acquisition and partnership possibilities for their children's village.

Gerdts has worked with other relief efforts in South America but never South Africa. He said he expected to see a similar human situation in Motherwell.

"I expect to see heart-rendering pain," Gerdts said before leaving last week. "The cool thing is that we see hope."

Fresh graves

According to the Centers for Disease Control Global AIDS Project, South Africa has 5.3 million people infected with HIV, the highest number of any country in the world.

During his last visit to the country, a five-week stay in January and February, Colin saw firsthand in Motherwell the path cut by those infections; its magnitude he described as "rampant."

Motherwell averages about 300 funerals a weekend, Colin said, and the vast majority of victims are between 25 and 35 years old.

"There's a lot of fresh graves," Colin said, and among those "I found four people older than me, and I'm only 38."

Many of those buried are young mothers who often leave children behind well before they die. Colin said nearly 250 babies are abandoned each month on the East Cape alone. When mothers realize they're sick, they leave their infants at police stations, hospitals or markets to be picked up by someone, anyone, who could give them a better life.

Colin said even though the government would prefer extended families to care for their own, the upset family structure precludes that from happening.

"There's no place for the abandoned kids -- they have no family," Colin said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimate more than 1.1 million AIDS orphans live in South Africa. Government-established orphanages are overrun, and many individuals have taken in orphans themselves.

Colin cited an example of one woman in a nearby township called Korsten who cared for 46 orphans by herself. The group struggles, he said, relying on small moneymakers like vegetable peddling to get by. More than half of those children are likely HIV positive, Colin said.

Colin said AIDS medications, like the antiviral treatment AZT, were readily available in South Africa for relatively low prices, but people rarely take advantage of them.

The disease carries a stigma that far supersedes cost.

"People would rather die from AIDS than admit they have AIDS," Colin said. "It's crazy."

Coming from behind

In South Africa, AIDS infections have been perpetuated for years by mystery and denial.

"Education on this disease has been slow," Colin said. "So now they're trying to play catch-up, and it's really hard."

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is an affliction in which a virus has weakened the body's immune system and serious infections have occurred. HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is the virus that causes AIDS.

HIV is usually spread through sexual contact; contaminated needles or syringes shared by drug users; infected blood; or from infected pregnant women to their offspring.

Colin said South Africa's blood supply regulations were up-to-date but that risky behavior was a problem.

Under apartheid, the South African government established townships surrounding the country's major cities. Blacks were relegated to the townships.

Though apartheid ended in the 1990s, South Africa's social structure still follows patterns put into place when it reigned.

Port Elizabeth has a population of 1.2 million. Motherwell is home to about 330,000 blacks, many impoverished or unemployed.

An exporter of a large percentage of the world's precious metals, South Africa is peppered with mines that employ most of the working men in Motherwell and other townships and rural areas.

Men leave their villages to work in the mines, engage in "all kinds of no good," and ultimately bring HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases home to their wives, Colin said.

Embarrassment blocks people from getting tested, seeking help or asking for information, and various myths take the place of facts.

Colin cited one of the worst: Many people believe that engaging in sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure AIDS.

In confused attempts to cure themselves, infected men rape young girls. Colin said the youngest victim he'd heard of was an 8-week-old baby.

It takes a village

A host of characters is involved in overcoming those blockades, as well as the more than 9,000-mile gap between Colin and the village he's trying to build.

The undertaking will require cooperation and land from the South African government and any charity organizations they can get. Those range from international establishments like HOPE Worldwide to one-woman operations, like that headed by South African Gladys Panda.

After her own daughter was socially shunned and even denied schooling after seeking treatment for HIV, Panda, who goes by "Mama Gladys," began her own small mission, Colin said. Mama Gladys, who is an AIDS activist and now cares for 20 AIDS orphans, will direct the Oceans of Mercy Children's Village.

Local independent missionaries Thomas and Lori Clouse spent much of a recent six-month trip to South Africa doing footwork for Oceans of Mercy. They helped with fact-finding, identifying areas of need and building relationships with on-site people like Mama Gladys.

"We were just the eyes and ears for Oceans of Mercy while we were over there," Lori Clouse said.

In-person "eyes and ears" are helpful, Colin said, as Internet technology there is too slow for virtual conferences. However, plane rides are lengthy, and anyone wishing to travel in person must foot their own bill.

Colin said he, Gerdts and the Gambills will be busy during their 10-day stay in the country next week.

"We want to get rolling very quickly," Colin said. "We want to see this thing up and running by spring next year."

Kansas City, Mo., architect Mark Shapiro has already completed pro bono preliminary studies and designs for the village.

Shapiro, also a native of South Africa, is a partner with Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects.

Shapiro said not only did he and his firm share a belief that architects are in a position to provide solutions for many difficult social issues but that he personally wanted to help his homeland, which was still enforcing apartheid at the time he left.

"Now that the place has changed, I think very much for the better, an opportunity for this gives me a chance to give something back," Shapiro said. "I have a sense of needing to make some contribution."

Shapiro said building appropriately for the area's limited resources and teaming with South African architects and authorities were two challenges presented for Kansas Citians designing a community on a third-world continent.

To help side-step South Africa's stereotypes, the village will be described as a community center and loving home, not as a clinic or an institution.

The village will include:

• Housing for more than 70 orphans.
• An elementary and preschool.
• A dorm for visitors and volunteers.
• Job-skills training for community members.
• A unit for HIV testing and counseling.
• A community activity hall.

"If our campus becomes known as an ‘AIDS place,' no one will go there," Colin said.

"People could be coming to play volleyball or get tested -- nobody will know."

Out of the woodwork

Western Shawnee has pretty much adopted Colin's good cause, Gambill said.

Even before the village is complete, Shawnee church groups, girl scouts and others have been sending Christmas gifts or other needed items to South Africa's youngest AIDS victims via Oceans of Mercy.

Shawnee residents showed up in droves to participate in a fund-raising spring fun run and Oceans of Mercy's annual golf tournament.

Colin, who owns the Country Club Café, 21911 W. 66th St., donates a percentage of sales from special Oceans of Mercy roasts and coffee concoctions at the restaurant.

Other help has just come out of the woodwork, Colin said.

There's the city of Olathe's Web page designer who volunteered his talent to revamp Oceans of Mercy's page, scheduled to be up in about a week.

A Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church fund raiser brought in enough money to buy a television and DVD player for the future village.

And there's the Mill Valley High School student who brought in a 20-ounce cup full of coins she'd been saving all year in her car.

"We have thousands of stories like that," Colin said. "I'm just so grateful for this Shawnee community. It's been such a blessing."