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A Simon Fraser University health scientist hopes the impact of a staggering death toll, stories from those affected and outrageous dares will make SFU the top fundraiser in a campaign to stem HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Rochelle Tucker is again the cheerleader for a health sciences student-led SFU team that is raising money for the second annual Stephen Lewis Foundation’s (SLF) A Dare to Remember national fundraiser. The money goes to helping Sub-Saharan African communities hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

Fundraisers have until World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, to act out their dares, but the SFU team will be carrying out its dares primarily from Oct. 19 to 22.

“Why should we care?,” says Tucker. “The prevalence of HIV in Sub-Saharan African countries exceeds 10 per cent of the population. In some countries, more than 20 per cent of the population is infected. In comparison, in Canada, our prevalence rate is less than half of one per cent.”

Everyone on campus is encouraged to join the SFU team. It kicks off its dare-driven fundraising on Oct. 19 by handing out free tickets to an upcoming lecture by members of the African Grandmothers’ Gathering (AfriGrand) Caravan.

Team members will hand out tickets on a first come, first serve basis in the Blusson Hall lobby from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tues. to Fri.

In partnership with the SLF, Swaziland Positive Living (SWAPOL), a national HIV/AIDS awareness raising organization in Swaziland, created the caravan. It transports African grandmothers around the world to share their stories about, and strategies for, dealing with the ravages of AIDS.

The SFU Dare to Remember team will welcome the caravan to the Burnaby campus on Nov. 4. Two caravan members from Swaziland, 19-year-old Thandeka Motsa, a granddaughter, and Tsabile Simelane, a 56-year-old grandmother, will share their stories of loss to AIDS in a lecture (4-5 p.m.) at AQ Room C9001.

“Africa’s HIV pandemic is hitting young people in the prime of their lives,” explains Tucker. “It is often the grandmothers who are left to take care of their grandchildren as they watch their sons and daughters die. An estimated 12 million children have been orphaned by AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.”

Following the AfriGrand Caravan members’ lecture, the Burnaby chapter of the SLF/SWAPOL caravan and SFU health sciences students will host a fundraiser at Burnaby’s Shadbolt Centre.

A $35 ticket to the 7:30 p.m. event covers a full slate of entertainment featuring more stories by the grandmother/granddaughter pair, the BC Girls Choir and the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach Youth Choir. Tickets at http://www.shadboltcentre.com/

Tucker notes, in keeping with its dare-to-do-more theme this year, the SFU team aims to raise more than its almost $25,000 contribution last year. That accomplishment made the SFU team, with more than 100 health sciences students enlisted, the inaugural campaign’s top earning student team and the second highest fundraiser nationally.

Along with co-hosting the AfriGrand Caravan’s visit to the City of Burnaby, SFU Dare to Remember team members are proposing and matching dares that are just as zany as last year’s, if not more.

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