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| | Youth Battles AIDS With Poetry
 In the tiny village of Matale, Malawi, the community’s two graveyards are filling to capacity. For the past several years the village has buried so many of its own that a new graveyard will soon need to be carved out of the underbrush and dusty earth.
The ground has been parched for many months in this central Malawi district of Senzani. With little rain for two years, even the corn that serves as the local food staple refuses to grow. Drought has brought hunger to these poor villagers who count on the crops they grow for their survival. In a country where the average household lives on less than $40 per year, hunger and poverty are constant companions.
Yet these days, the village of Matale is only one in a sea of African villages where hunger and poverty are no longer the primary calamities. These days, the mortal enemy is AIDS. Some weeks Matale buries three people, individuals who become added statistics to the tens of millions who have died of the pandemic in Africa alone. In many ways, Matale is a microcosm of what is occurring throughout Africa.
It’s an unlikely place for heros, but out of the dust, the hunger, and the illness that plague Matale has emerged a young boy who is taking on AIDS single handedly. At 14, Edward Thomson is waging his own war against the AIDS pandemic with an unusual weapon: poetry.
“When I was younger, my father encouraged me to write poems as a way to learn English and to know about the world,” said soft-spoken Edward, whose first language is Chichewa. “Now in my village there are homes with no people. You can hear children crying day and night because a parent has died.”
Edward knows the pain of losing loved ones. In 2001, his father died. He also has attended the funerals of an uncle and aunt. Moved to sorrow, Edward began to write poems about the affect of HIV/AIDS on his village.
“When people die, they leave children who can’t take care of themselves,” said Edward, who today lives with his mother and siblings in his grandfather’s house. “These children suffer a lot. They envy their friends who have parents. Their lives change—they have no clothes, food, or bedding because no one is there to take care of them.”
Today this published poet has shared his verse before more than 100,00 people. Edward has been heard on Zambian radio, in schools, at major AIDS prevention programs in Malawi, and in the United States, most recently during World Vision’s Hope Tour in New York City in mid-September. Edward has traveled to the United States twice to share through poetry the story of the world’s more than 13 million orphans who have lost parents to AIDS and are barely surviving.
Edward, who is in the ninth grade, has written six poems. A World Vision sponsored child for nine years, Edward has been able to continue his education with World Vision’s help. He plans to remain in school, and graduate from college. What does he plan to do?
“I’d like to be an AIDS expert,” Edward said, his hallmark smile lighting his face. “I will spread the message of AIDS, to make people know about the dangers of AIDS.”
In his own village, Edward already has met with success in sharing that message. Viewed by many Matale children as role model, Edward is inspiring some Matale orphans who had forfeited their educations to return to school.
“I think God is the One who chose me to spread the message of by writing poems,” Edward said. “God is calling me now and in the future.” |  | 1-888-511-6548 : P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063-9716 Who Is World Vision?
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
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