Lisa Lopez Levers
Assistant Professor of Education
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Field: HIV/AIDS Education and Counseling
Host: University of Botswana
Dates of Grant: August 1, 2003 - June 1, 2004

As a counselor and a humanitarian, Lisa Lopez Levers devoted her Fulbright Scholar year in Botswana to researching the cultural factors contributing to the HIV/AIDS pandemic there. At the University of Botswana, Lopez Levers advised students and assisted in developing a master’s counseling program. In her keynote speech at the “One People, Multiple Dreams of a Different World” international conference, she spoke on the vital role of traditional healing in southern Africa, where Western medicine is often suspect. During this trip to Botswana, she researched designing culturally relevant and gender-sensitive counseling and education activities. She collaborated with more than 15 towns and villages to develop community-based services for children affected by HIV/AIDS, especially the huge number of those orphaned by it. She also designed ways to ensure that resources reach grassroots organizations. Involving local authorities, educators, tribal leaders and traditional healers in AIDS prevention and treatment is essential, Lopez Levers told The Duquesne University Times. “The sooner we intervene with children at risk, the greater the possibility becomes that we might prevent serious problems later in life. If I can assist in preventing such damage, pain and suffering, then I feel that I may have contributed something.”

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