Lindsey Reynolds

In her freshman year at South Eugene, Lindsey Reynolds joined a peer education program: AIDS and Substance Abuse Prevention. "I stayed with it all four years," she says, "I spent an incredible amount of time teaching HIV prevention." After graduation in 2000, Reynolds left for Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut, where she ran a similar peer education program that served 14 schools. She won a grant to travel to South Africa for a thesis on HIV prevention efforts in KwaZulu-Natal province. There she also spent time helping out at a rural AIDS hospice, where fellow Wesleyan student Angela Larkin was studying orphan-care strategies. On their return, Reynolds and Larkin founded Thembanathi ("hope with us" in Zulu), a small-scale project to raise funds for day care at the hospice. Visit www.thembanathi.org to learn more. A five-dollar donation will purchase a hand-beaded AIDS pin like the one in the photo. Reynolds will be selling other hand-crafted items from South Africa from 12-6 on Saturday, December 10, at a Human Rights Day event at the UO Law School, and from 12-5 the following day at 1452 Barber Drive in Eugene. (345-6144 for details.)

happening people photograph and story by Paul Neevel Eugene Weekly / 8 December 2005