The Jewish Independent
April 13, 2007
Helping people with AIDS
Med student’s initiative raises $80,000 for South African centre.
REBECA KUROPATWA
In 2005, Ilan Schwartz completed his degree at the University of Winnipeg and was waiting to be accepted into medical school. He did what many young people do between academic degrees or before entering the work world – he went travelling. But his was no ordinary trip.
“I wanted to travel and do something with community health,” said Schwartz, now a University of Manitoba medical student, “so I decided to take advantage of this time [between programs] by going to South Africa.”
Schwartz said he wanted to “get a sense of the big picture before getting lost in the minutia of med school. I wanted to see the impact that disease has on individuals and communities – not just read about it in books, looking at it as the mechanics of tissues and cells.”
While in South Africa, Schwartz volunteered at the Hillcrest AIDS Centre for five months. Coming back to Winnipeg, Schwartz said he knew he wanted to fund-raise for the centre and to get the Jewish community involved, but didn’t quite know how.
“I brought back some small beaded dolls from the Hillcrest AIDS Centre gift shop, to give to friends and family,” said Schwartz. “School started right away. I wore a different doll on my shirt every day, and people would ask about them.”
People who are infected or affected by AIDS make the dolls – called “Little Travellers” – as part of the income-generation project at Hillcrest.
“When people heard the story behind the dolls, everyone wanted one,” Schwartz said. He brought 15 dolls back to Winnipeg and, instead of giving them to people as gifts, he ended up selling them in order to make a donation to the AIDS centre.
From this experience, Schwartz saw an opportunity to do some good for the centre. He got together with some other medical students who were interested in helping, and formed a committee called Simunye, which means means, “We are one,” in Zulu.
Schwartz said that people with or affected by AIDS “are battling this alone. They seemed to be forgotten by the world. So, I wanted to show some kind of solidarity with them, fighting this disease – even though we are across the ocean and, in some ways, worlds apart. The struggle that they go through is almost unfathomable to people who are in my comfortable situation.”
The Little Traveller dolls have been sold at Gray Academy Jewish High School, the Jewish Student Association and Hillel and by Jewish community centre staff, said Schwartz.
“I am hesitant about approaching synagogues though, because it seems like they appeal more for money to serve their own,” continued Schwartz. “Every Rosh Hashanah, they appeal for donations to fix up the synagogue, plant trees or send students to Israel. It is great that we look after each other and ourselves, but we also have a responsibility to the world. There is no excuse for us turning our backs on this catastrophe.”
According to Schwartz, there is a 40 per cent infection rate in the area where the AIDS centre is located and a 50 to 60 per cent infection rate in the surrounding area.
“We have to look within ourselves and choose our priorities,” he said. “Tikkun olam [repairing the world] should be more than empty rhetoric. In reality, it is only Christian churches that do anything to help other communities.”
The beaded dolls cost about $2.50 to make and they sell for $5. Half of the $5 goes as a wage for the doll makers and the rest goes to the Hillcrest AIDS Centre.
In South Africa, said Schwartz, “if you don’t [have] money, you can’t go to a hospice and the hospitals are all full. So, if you are terminally ill, you are basically sent home to die. The volunteers, who take care of the terminally ill in their homes, make the Little Traveller dolls. This way, at least they have some kind of wage to get by, while doing this work.”
Simunye started by selling 1,000 dolls in Winnipeg. Schwartz said that, since then, the group has sold close to 18,000 beaded dolls and raised about $80,000 for the AIDS centre.
“I’ve learned loads about marketing, business, accounting, media and public relations – things I had no clue about before,” said Schwartz. “It is such a fun and meaningful way of bringing people together to do something good.”
The Simunye initiative has branched out from Winnipeg to Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Jerusalem, Edinburgh and other campuses around the world. To get more information or to check out ways to get involved, visit www.littletravellers.net or e-mail vancouver@littletravellers.net.
Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
