Last modified: Thursday, June 18, 2009 2:20 AM EDT Cindy Kearns of Norton experiences the ‘Step into Africa’ exhibit. AIDS exhibit opens in city BY ALLISON COLLINS FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE ATTLEBORO - A man entered Olivia's home and raped her. Nine months later she had his child. He came back, told her he wanted to help with their son, and raped her again. She had another child, this time a girl. But her daughter was not healthy like her son - she seemed sick. Neighbors thought the girl had anemia. Olivia fed her more breast milk to try to make her healthier. When that failed to work, a nurse suggested giving the girl blood. But before she could do that, Olivia had to go through a blood test. When the results from the test came back, Olivia found that she was HIV positive. She later found out that her daughter was, too. Olivia's story, along with the stories of other African children, is being told at the Attleboro YMCA in a special exhibit, "Step into Africa: The AIDS Crisis: Can You Survive the Journey of a Child?" which opened Sunday and runs through Sunday, June 21. At the first stop at the exhibit, visitors pick up headphones to listen to a voice recording of the child's story they are about to embark on. They then open a set of tattered curtains and enter. "This child's experience is now yours. It is the path you are about to walk," the recording says. Visitors to the exhibit experience the child's story for themselves. People are directed through a series of rooms with curtains separating them. The rooms have pictures showing what was happening in the child's life as the voice recording tells the story. Nicole Nicholls, one of those attending Sunday's opening, said she thought that the exhibit was worthwhile because it brought up issues in Africa that few people in the Western world every really think about. She experienced Stephen's story. She described him as an average African child until a rebel army took him away and brainwashed him. The boys in the army were told not to try to escape. Boys had to kill other boys who tried to escape and were caught. It was like friends having to kill their friends, Nicole said. The boys were told that any other group or army that tried to capture them would poison or kill them so that they would not try to leave with outsiders. But Stephen, 11, was captured by an outside group who tried to help him. They brought him to a type of rehabilitation center for child soldiers. "It was interesting because you could see the pictures they would draw," Nicole said. She said the boys would draw pictures of themselves biting other boys to death, or killing them with machetes. Stephen was tested for HIV because of all the blood he was exposed to as a child-soldier. He is HIV negative. Nicholls' mother, Marva Nicholls, attended the exhibit with her and experienced Beatrice's story. "I thought the story was compelling," she said. Beatrice's older sister gave birth after her husband left her. When she died in labor, 7-year-old Beatrice was the only one who could look after the baby, Nicholls said. "You could hear screams as she went through labor," Nicholls said. Beatrice cared for the baby for two years by herself, encountering a series of devastating health problems, Nicholls said. Seemingly out of nowhere, a woman showed up to help take care of Beatrice and the baby. After Beatrice's HIV test, she found out that she was HIV negative, Nicholls said. Olivia's exhibit showed four AIDS myths that are commonly believed in Africa: Having sex with a virgin can cure AIDS; AIDS is a weapon of warfare; AIDS is transmitted by witchcraft, and HIV can be contracted by physical touch. The voice recording explains how people with HIV are often shunned. After going through an individual child's exhibit, visitors end up in a clinic, where they receive a red plus stamp if the child is HIV positive, or a black negative stamp if the child is HIV negative. Then, they pass on to a prayer chapel. Pictures of dozens of children hang from the ceiling, all stamped with a red plus sign - they are all HIV positive, and some of them have already died. Visitors are encouraged to pick up a small folder displaying a child. They can then choose to sponsor that child or pick a different child, and sponsor that one, or choose not to sponsor a child at all. The Nichollses said they will give $35 a month to help 6-year-old Sandrine, a girl from Rwanda. Sandrine lives with her grandmother and the money will help them buy good food and have clean water for the first time, they said. Joshua Mroczka from World Vision, the charitable organization that displays the exhibit across the country, said that usually about 10 percent of the people who come will sponsor a child. He said the numbers were a little higher in Attleboro on Sunday. "The AIDS pandemic most people don't know about," Mroczka said. "This experience brings it to life."