Picking up where the International AIDS Conference in Toronto left off, the University of Regina is welcoming award-winning HIV/AIDS activist Justa Mwaituka (Mama Justa) as the first speaker in the fall 2006 Social Policy Research Unit (SPR) Film/Speaker series. Co-hosted by SPR in the Faculty of Social Work at the U of R and CUSO, the evening also includes a screening of Academy-Award nominated documentary Darwin’s Nightmare. The event will take place Thurs., Aug. 24 in the Multi-Purpose Room and the Lazy Owl at the Dr. William Riddell Centre. The film will be screened at 7 p.m., followed by Mama Justa’s talk at 8:45 p.m. and an informal meet-and-greet session with her at 9:30 p.m. The event and parking are free and open to the public.

Mama Justa is executive director of the Kiota Women Health and Development Organization (KIWOHEDE), a non-profit organization that works in Tanzania with HIV/AIDS with a focus on working with street youth and AIDS orphans. She has won numerous awards that include the 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award and the 2002 Woman of the Year Award from the American Biographer Institute. She is coming to Canada to attend the international AIDS conference in Toronto and is spending a few days on the Prairies to raise awareness about the ever-growing AIDS pandemic and to create ties between her organization and Canadians interested in becoming involved in her work.

Her talk will be preceded by the screening of the 2004 film, Darwin’s Nightmare, a documentary that takes place in Tanzania and focuses on globalization’s impact on the people who live there, including children orphaned by AIDS.

For more information on the event, contact SPR at 585-4117. For more information on Mama Justa and the KIWOHEDE project, contact Natasha Philander of CUSO at 757-4669 or visit www.kiwohede.org.