Student's passion is AIDS prevention

Area high school students will have the opportunity to travel to Kenya through the eyes of Micaela White. She is setting up visits now so she can talk to students about getting scholarships and how hers allows her to be a goodwill ambassador to Kenya.

White, 22, has a $25,000 scholarship from Rotary International and District 5300, which includes Southern Nevada and Southern California. She will use it for her master's degree at the University of Nairobi. While studying toward her economics and public health degree, White plans to travel the country on what some might call her personal mission: teaching people about AIDS and how it is spread. Approximately 50 percent of Kenya's population has AIDS or is HIV positive.

"It's taboo to talk about the disease over there," she said. "But they talk with me because I'm young, (basically) a kid, and I'm from America. I just want to tell them to be smart about relationships, tell them how AIDS is transmitted."

White is no stranger when it comes to helping others. Growing up in Greenwich, Conn., she collected cans to raise money for different causes, sang Christmas carols and put on ballet recitals for senior centers. As a teen she took food and clothing to the homeless in New York City.

While at one of the Claremont Colleges she produced improvisational comedy and concerts with all proceeds going to a battered women's shelter. She also raised money to buy supplies for art students. Her parents involved her in their community service efforts as well.

White's father, whose dental office is in Summerlin, offers his services free of charge to people at MASH Village and will soon be flying down to Guatemala on a charity mission.

Because her father is a dentist and her mother an international flight attendant, White joked she was destined for great teeth and a yen to travel. Her mother's TWA passes meant weekend trips to Europe were common and she learned French at an early age. White also speaks Swahili.

It was while in her last semester at college that White first went to Kenya as part of the School for International Training. There she was paired with a family and "adopted." At the invitation of one of her professors, she traveled to rural areas to absorb the culture first hand.

One day she saw a dirty well used by all the villagers but so choked with dirt it was virtually unusable. Without fanfare, she grabbed a bucket and started cleaning out the mud and debris. Soon children and mothers joined her and by the end of the day, the well was filling with clear water again.

White saw village women who took over support of the family when their husbands died of AIDS. They formed co-ops. Some made baskets or bread to sell, others started a brickyard. One group started making microloans. The co-ops included anywhere from seven to 42 women. The groups are not just out to make money. If one woman died of AIDS, the co-op took over care of her children. That sense of community made an impression on White and she resolved to return to help if she could.

The scholarship allows her to do that.

"What I'm doing is not going to solve the world's problems," she said. "One person can't do that but education can. I want to teach them to help themselves."

Her scholarship came with required appearances at Rotary Clubs in the United States and Kenya. The high school appearances, however, are her idea. She suggested it so others can hear about the various Rotary scholarships.

"It's a scholarship where you're required to do something," she said. "(Other groups) just hand you a check."

Her first high school visit will be to Faith Lutheran Junior/High School. She's also booked at Paul E. Culley Elementary where her talk will focus on geography and customs.

She is contacting other schools and said she hopes to be booked soon at Durango and Bonanza high schools.

For more information contact the local Rotary club by calling Doug Christensen at 562-4102 visit www.rotary.org.


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