Emmy Award-winning journalist, senior correspondent for ABC News and author Jim Wooten addressed members of the Wittenberg community, April 12, as part of a fundraising effort to benefit the southern African Kingdom of Lesotho. Wooten’s book, We Are All The Same: A Story of a Boy’s Courage and a Mother’s Love, helped to raise international awareness of AIDS in Africa.

Although many students have read Wooten’s book in class, many others have traveled to Lesotho, where they have witnessed firsthand the devastation of the AIDS epidemic during service trips to the impoverished nation. In all, 86 Wittenberg students have participated in three summer field study programs where they not only attended lectures and completed academic research projects, but they also performed service with Habitat for Humanity, built playgrounds for orphanages and closely interacted with children whose lives have been impacted by AIDS.

Wooten’s visit kicked-off the weekend fundraiser sponsored by the university’s Student Senate titled “Survivor Wittenberg-Lesotho.”