J* >' *>'.. Local father is a hero every day of the year. See page A5 :al Lakers going to nationals leer awes the portsWeek • • • • igei nd ma once agam Community Review of city’s night life scene • • • • See Cl Kids get hands-on in Snakes 101 Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point Vol.XXVI No. 45 62201 LS DEPARU'-ENT 938 DAVIS LIBRARY HAPEL HILL L HILL NC 27514-8890 '3-DIGIT 275 The Choice for African American News THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2 Tragedy led former president to new cause BYT. KEVIN WALKER THE CHRONICLE Kenneth Kaunda In Africa, AIDS is threatening to destroy “the village,” the continent’s cen turies-old concept of family, faith, morals and respect. That’s what one of the Motherland’s most respected leaders believes, and it’s a threat that he is not taking lightly. “The social system in Africa was strong enough that when people died, their families would take care of the orphans,” said Kenneth Kaunda, “But so many people are dying across the board, that’s no longer possible.” Kaunda, the former president of Zambia, is in the midst of an internation al effort to stir up interest in the Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation, an organization he is devoting all of his time to since he left the world of politics less than a month ago. The foundation’s mission is to aid the orphans of Africa, mainly those orphaned because their par ents were victims of the AIDS epidemic which has been especially vicious in Africa. “It’s a terrible epidemic,” Kaunda said. “We have lost millions to AIDS on the continent as a whole.” Oddly, Winston-Salem was Kaunda’s first stop on a sort of promotional tour for the foundation. He arrived here June 10 and spent all of last week meeting with church leaders, business and education officials and notables like poet Maya Angelou. Winston-Salem will also serve as one of four international headquarters for the foundation. The others are in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city and Kaunda’s hometown; Johannesburg and London. Kaunda said he is giving so much attention to Winston-Salem because longtime colleague Robert Penney - an Irishman who lived in Zambia for nearly 30 years - resides here. Penney will head the local office. Kaunda first began to think about starting the foundation in 1986 while still serving as president of the landlocked nation. One of his nine children died of the disease that year. Kaunda and his wife, Betty, took on the responsibility of raising the six children that were left behind after their son’s death. Kaunda became the first president of an independent Zambia in 1964. He left the presidency in 1991, and up until last month, he headed the United National Independence Party, one of the nation’s See Foundation on A10 ODGES CLE is National HIV Testing Day. While some the prospect of discovering if they are h the fatal disease frightening, experts say r all people, African Americans in particu- sted. s from the Centers for Disease Control and show that 41 percent of new AIDS cases American people. Americans account for 37 percent of the cases in the United States, ng to the National Association of People of the 650,000-900,000 people living with three don’t know their status, iderson, director of NAPWA, said the idea ing day was born out of the concern for did not know they had HIV. onal testing was started in 1995. ; was talking about the advantages of test- rson said. “A lot of people are afraid of ionalHIV ting Day will to fight fear ierson added, it is vital that people know m is HIV positive and he said it was hard nuster the strength to take the test. /1 was at risk, but in my gut I didn’t want is a scary feeling,” he said, ling out one’s status allows that person to treatment needed to combat the disease, m added that the National HIV Testing igned to normalize HIV testing.” ijie said, it has been working, liave been a number of signs (that people tested). We find that during the week of there is a higher number of people going :s,” Anderson said, ir, a church group in Miami got together )0 people to be tested, he added, eie last five years, Anderson said there has tn';itude shift in how people handle getting )ple see it as something you can control,” 1. ^derson acknowledges that there are still wt people face when they consider testing. If f people still don’t trust the test,” he said. See Forsyth Health on AlO Doing it yourself Photo by Paul Collins Regina Singletary takes a faucet apart and puts it back together again. Sylvia Neely looks on. Locals leam how-to at clinic BY PAUL COLLINS THE CHRONICLE During a how-to clinic on repairing and installing faucets last Thursday night, Regina Singletary got a chance to take a faucet apart and put it back togeth er again. Other participants in the clinic gave her moral support. “You make it look like you know what you’re doing,” one of them said as Regina worked on the project. “You go, girl. You go,” said Bryce Wood of Lowe’s Home Improvement store at Hanes Mall, one of the instructors. “What night do you want to start working?” Steven Speer of Lowe’s, the other instructor, said when Regina successfully completed the project. Regina smiled broadly, and she received a round of applause from the clinic participants and instruc tors. During a break, Singletary said she wants “to leam how to do some minor repairs myself” Last Thursday night’s clinic, at the Winston- Salem Urban League, was the first of a series of how to clinics sponsored by Lowe’s Home Improvement and the Urban League for homeowners and potential homeowners from Habitat for Humanity and public housing. “The Urban League along with Lowe’s Home Improvements came up with this initiative as a result of our president and CEO (Delores J. “D” Smith) See How to on A4 Mayor Perkins: Town’s down but not out BY PAUL COLLINS THE CHRONICLE Perkins Alderwoman Joycelyn Johnson introduced guest speaker Delia Perkins - the mayor of the flood-devastated town of Princeville - at the third annual anniversary cele bration of the Black Leader ship Roundtable Saturday. Johnson described Perkins as a small woman who “can mooooove a mountain, can be battered by the angry sea and still hold on.” Perkins then told Princeville’s remarkable story, of devastation, determination and efforts to rebuild: “The town of Princeville is a small town on the Tar River that was founded by freed slaves....These slaves came across after freedom and decided this; was a place they wanted to call their own, and they decided to stay. (They lived through) hardships of flooding, of everything you can imagine that people would encounter trying to start something anew, trying to build a foundation. They stood, they stayed, and Princeville is still there. “On Sept. 16, we had a visitor from Florida. We thought at first that it was torrential rains, and low- lying flooding, that we would not have a thing to worry about. After all, we do have that three-mile dike that’s around the city of Princeville, which is 37 feet high. We just didn’t give a thought that we would encounter flooding. “But on Thursday night, after much labor putting down sandbags and trying to decide what we needed to do about the flood waters that were com ing up through the storm drains, how to evacuate citizens out, we decided to at least leave, then maybe tomorrow morning, Friday, to come back and we could clean up what was messed up and start all over again. “But this was not to happen. Floyd devastated the town of Princeville to the extent that we had 46 feet of water within our town. Everything that you; could imagine in the town was submerged under water for 10 days. As I walked out to the bridge on that Friday morning and looked across and thought See Princeville on A9 ])C hits home run with kids T WALKER ICLE rs of the Southside Com- elopment Corp. say they ilfilling their social duty ghbors and community lecided to initiate a part- p'h city-owned recreation ^ le community. is two years ago. This tfitest fruits of that part- le to bear. The Southside buted about 65 baseball center directors at each enters in the Southside - mter, Reynolds Rec Cen- Garden Rec Center, eet Rec Center and Bel- . enter. i forms were then present- ung people who make up baseball teams. They ibr lie first time Tuesday for the first game of the season in a league made up of the five centers. Cary Cain, president of the Southside CDC, said the organiza tion decided to secure uniforms for the teams because the rec centers provide positive outlets for young people in the various communities. He said the partnership with the centers also shows that the CDC is about more than “bricks and mor tar.” “As a CDC, we have a social obligation as well as a financial obligation,” Cain said. The organization’s economic obligation is often what gets most of the attention, however. The CDC has just hired a project manager for the much talked about Happy Hill revitalization project, which is expected to transform the historic community by adding new struc tures and giving facelifts to others. But the CDC is also aggressively trying to make its mark on the social front. Recently it has sponsored a series of programs at the rec centers aimed at building a stronger social fabric in the community. Student performers from the N.C. School of the Arts, which is located in the Southside, have staged perfor mances at the centers at the CDC’s request. The organization also arranged for a circus group to make a stop at one of the centers recently. A CDC-sponsored workshop for prospective home buyers was held at the Sims Center just three weeks ago. The total cost of the uniforms was about $1,600, Cain said. The money was raised through corporate donations and grants. Steve Mack, treasurer of the CDC, began solicit ing local businesses for money near- See CDC on A10 Photo by Kevin Walker Jacques Bitting, from left. Tiffany Richardson, Nicole Stewart, Jeffrey Richardson, and Anthony Aikens, Jr. hold the new shirts for the teams. Also pictured in second row: center directors Brian Manns, from left, and Bryant McCorkle; Beth Barnhill and Lemelia Bonner of the CDC; center director Ben Piggott. Back row: from left, Cary Cain and Steve Mack of the CDC. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL (336) Z22-8624 • MASTERCARD, VISA AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED

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