CCBC Catonsville hosts ‘AIDS in Africa Today’

Greg Satorie, a 42-year-old American seasoned AIDS activist and himself a 22-year survivor of HIV, has spent the summer touring the Southwest African nation of Namibia, one of the hardest hit in the global AIDS epidemic. Satorie shared his experiences during a heart-gripping program on “AIDS in Africa Today,” co-sponsored in October by CCBC Catonsville’s Social Sciences department and Office of Student Life.

HIV/AIDS, the greatest scourge of the last thousand years, continues to mount unimaginable statistics, killing three million people a year, crippling nations and leaving families without parents or breadwinners. It has hit Southern Africa especially hard.

Satorie has been teaching HIV prevention education for 10 years in Maryland. For the past two years he has also volunteered for Catholic AIDS Action (CAA) throughout Namibia, teaching positive living as well as AIDS prevention. During a 30-day tour in 2002, Satorie authored 12 Steps to Living Positively with HIV, now available from CAA in five languages.

The book describes basic lifestyle choices, behaviors and practical suggestions that have come to be known as characteristics of long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS. Prior to his 11-week tour this summer, he wrote How to Start a Support Group, also published by CAA and available in three languages.