Soft Side of AIDS War in India

January 13, 2009

Soft Side of AIDS War

Los Angeles Times (12.25.08):: Ari B. Bloomekatz

A well-known HIV/AIDS activist in Los Angeles uses handmade multi-ethnic dolls

to build awareness about the infection, and her project has spread around the

world. , the director of HIV education and outreach programs at

Drew University of Medicine and Science, has relied on her colorful

cloth " Dolls of Hope " to educate the public for more than a decade.

launched the effort on World AIDS Day in 1998, when she and volunteers

made several hundred dolls for women and children infected with HIV/AIDS. The

dolls represent the communities in which their makers live, and participating

agencies receive dolls in exchange for those they create and contribute. The

project is ongoing with US agencies as well as others in Africa and India.

finds partners for the project and teaches participants how to make the dolls,

which she sells to help fund her work.

" I do this because of my passion, " said. " If I can prevent one new

infection, it's a success. It's more about community mobilization. This is one

strategy I use to break the silence around HIV/AIDS and to reduce the stigma. "

Alma Castro, who works with the group La Nueva Esperanza in Brooklyn, N.Y., met

in 2006 and is starting a Dolls of Hope project. " I just think it's

sitting down and working with your hands that conversations start flowing, " she

said. " It's so non-threatening that people listen. "

Dolls from the project are on display at the Friends of Grant Still Arts

Center in Los Angeles through March 29, and will be holding doll-making

workshops there on Jan. 10, Feb. 21 and March 21. For more information on Dolls

of Hope, e-mail cynthiadavis@....

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