NEW AUDIO WEAPON AGAINST HIV/AIDS

Solar-powered audio players teach Scripture and HIV/AIDS protection to the rural illiterate, especially women and children

What is the need?

Many innocent Cambodian women and children are being infected with HIV/AIDS, largely because their extreme poverty, low social status and widespread illiteracy leave them open to exploitation.

The AIDS epidemic is rampant in Cambodia, where it's been estimated in recent years that 42% of new infections were transmitted by husbands to their wives, and 30% of transmissions are from mothers to their newborns. This mother-to-baby transmission can be easily prevented through simple and inexpensive drugs, but the mothers need to hear that such help is available - information that is simply unavailable in rural, illiterate communities. Around 85% of Cambodians live in rural areas without adequate access to basic services. Only around 69.4% of adults are fully literate- and the average is much lower for women.

AIDS has left in its wake numerous child-headed households, orphans without care, and children vulnerable to being trafficked with no parents to provide for them. A lack of education and information leaves children vulnerable to predators that approach them offering money.

How do we help?

Groundbreaking new technology using a solar-powered Zvox audio player has been developed so that even the illiterate in remote rural areas can hear life-changing messages of hope in their own language.

Samaritans Purse is partnering with The Bible Society of NSW and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association to provide an initial 500 Zvox audio players to over 300 villages. This has the potential to change the lives of up to 10,000 Cambodians. Zvox players are custom-built to survive harsh conditions, and can play microchips that can hold hours and hours of lessons. It's easy to use by individuals or groups, and designed specifically to educate audio learners. It can be recharged through solar energy or a hand-crank method, so will work without electricity or the ongoing purchase of new batteries.

Recorded in the local language, the audio programs include narrative dramas that combine Bible teaching and HIV/AIDS education. This will help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and protect children from abuse. There are two separate training tracks: Building the Church, which includes the Bible in Khmer along with scriptural training lessons; and Messages of Hope, which includes lessons addressing HIV/AIDS, child protection, health and sanitation, and parenting.

How it's changing lives:

By sharing this life-saving information, communities are empowered to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and regain ground lost to this hope-destroying social disease.