Press Releases

January 15, 2005 - Redlands, CA
The Flight of The Spirit of Charles Kean

AIDS: THE SILENT TSUNAMI OF THE WORLD’S INNOCENTS

When Inland Empire Rotarians launch a small, single engine aircraft on a two-week flight around the world on July 9 th, 2005, they are embarking on a journey much larger than a transportation event. The flight of the Spirit of Charles Kean is a bold and noble journey inspired by a bold and noble man. It is a flight of mercy confronting the largest terror of our times, perhaps even larger than Middle Eastern fanatics: the pandemic of AIDS. There is no TSA to stop the virus at our airports. Today, 45 million people have HIV/AIDS, as many as all of the citizens living in the three states on the West Coast of America. Today, Africa is the continent with the highest infection rates. Tomorrow, it will be India, Russia, and perhaps China.

The Flight of the Spirit of Charles Kean is about capturing the core values and beliefs of Rotary International, and the responsibilities of Americans citizens to step up on the world stage—to take a stand and to attempt to make a difference. We live in a culture that winks at casual sex, the greatest means of HIV/AIDS transmission. We can protect our own young people, and the citizens of the world, by loudly proclaiming the ancient, Biblical message that is guaranteed to work every time against infection: Abstain from sex until marriage; when married, be faithful with a mutually faithful partner.

Perhaps it is time to suggest that our culture has become too permissive. That, to insure the future of our own children’s children, we need to say: “Stop! We want to turn back the tide and suggest that responsible, moral behavior is the only answer (until, or if, a cure for the virus is discovered).

When the aircraft lands in Nairobi to meet the orphans of The Shepherd’s Home it will carry on its fuselage the large red logo: ABC..D “STOP THE AIDS TSUNAMI”. The logo will be embroidered on the aviator’s uniforms. The coffee cans to hold “Quarters for Kenya” will have the logo on the sides of the cans. Perhaps 10,000 will attend the Departure Ceremony on July 9 th. At the airport ceremony site will be a large AIDS HEALTH FAIR. A free ice cream party at Sylvan Park will display the logo.

It’s the sort of message that Charles Kean would have wanted for his boyhood friends in Kenya to hear, don’t you think?

Six thousand children become orphans every day. This is not a once in a lifetime earthquake. This is a tremor that is destroying an entire continent and washing away an entire culture.

Perhaps we Rotarians can do something about it

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