FACE AIDS inspires students to form chapter, ‘play’ their part

Her name was Mama Katele. Out of the thousands of people in a Zambian refugee camp, she was the only person who was openly HIV-positive. Everyone else was too fearful of the societal shame associated with the disease.

When three Stanford students—including Saratoga alumna Lauren Young—traveled to Zambia to volunteer in 2005, they met Mama Katele and learned of her struggles against disease and disgrace.

Mama Katele inspired the three students to form FACE AIDS, an organization dedicated to fighting HIV by “building a movement of young leaders dedicated to global health equity and social justice,” according to their website, faceaids.org.

On Jan. 26 Young returned to Saratoga and spoke to the Leadership class about FACE AIDS. Her cause inspired junior Sasan Saadat to work with seniors Alison Knysh and Stephanie Shimizu to form their own FACE AIDS chapter at Saratoga High. In over 200 American high schools and colleges, the organization has established chapters that lead awareness campaigns and raise money for health care.

“A big part of what they’re doing is trying to get more funding and more awareness … but also to show Saratoga students what young people are capable of,” Saadat said. “FACE AIDS was started by such a young person, and it just shows that you can be young and still do a lot for your community and for the world globally.”

Saadat said the chapter is still in its incipient stages, but it may hold events like walk-a-thons and 24-hour “dance marathons” to raise funds in the future.

Saadat, however, is not the only person who is taking the initiative. Seniors Mac Hyde and Joshua Harris and sophomore Erhland Hollingsworth, all of whom work with the drama department, have started planning a 24-hour-long “play in a day” to help support FACE AIDS.

“A lot of kids have wanted to do this, but [FACE AIDS] enables kids to say, ‘Look, I’m doing it, and it’s for a good cause,’” Hyde said.

Hyde described two different approaches to the “play in a day”: either the students involved would use a traditional script or they would write, memorize and stage an original, student-written play.

“I personally would prefer the latter, because it would be completely student produced,” Hyde said. “We wouldn’t have to pay royalties or rights for anything. And it would be more of a challenge. We have some really fantastic writers here; this would be a great place to showcase their talent.”

Hyde still sees potential problems with the student-written setup.

“If we do the one that a kid writes, it’s a play that no one has ever heard of, no one knows if it’s good and publicity’s probably going to be bad,” he said. “So if we do that format it’s going to rely more upon [sponsors]. And then the ticket sales will just be icing on the cake.”

“But say if we were looking at Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mousetrap’—internationally renowned play, actually the longest running play in the world,” he continued. “Then you could advertise and then we could just rely on ticket sales [more].”

Saadat appreciates the value of communal contribution—whether it is through a walk-a-thon, a marathon play or simply raising awareness about a cause—that FACE AIDS preaches.

“There’s this quote by Sydney Smith that’s like, ‘It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little—do what you can,’” Saadat said. “It was really cool that every little bit you do—just telling more people about it or raising just a little bit of money with a bake sale, you know—even though we’re young people, it scales up eventually. And, of course, it’s a good cause, too.”