Penelope is an 18 year old girl from a remote region of northern Zambia.  She lost both of her parents to AIDS and had to drop out of school at age 13 to support herself and her siblings in the wake of her parents’ deaths. She, like 83 percent of girls in sub-Saharan Africa are not in secondary school.  Like Penelope, 11.3 Million children in in sub-Saharan Africa are orphans due to HIV/AIDS.

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, young women between the ages of 15-24 are twice as likely to be living with HIV/AIDS as young men. But if young women are educated, they are three times less likely to contract the disease.

Studies show that educated girls marry later, have fewer children, are half as likely to contract HIV, and increase their future incomes by 15 to 25 percent for every year of secondary school education that they complete.

On December 1st, 2009 countries around the world will hold World AIDS Day.  On World AIDS Day, December 1st 2009, Camfed will launch a global campaign to raise awareness about the link between poverty, educational exclusion and AIDS by uniting thousands of people around the world through screenings of its documentary, Where the Water Meets the Sky. You can help tell Penelope's story and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS by hosting a screening of this film.  Get your friends together for coffee and bagels and watch this amazing film of women in Africa who learned how to make a film themselves about their story, something difficult and rarely spoken about there.

For information about the film, to see a trailer of the film, or to order a copy of the film, go to:

http://www.watermeetssky.com/

If you belong to an organization, or know of one who may also be interested in hosting a screening please contact me directly at janet_shah@yahoo.com

Thank you!