Africa’s AIDS pandemic may seem a million miles away to most of us, but for Edmonton’s African community, it hits uncomfortably close to home.

The results of a study performed by the Centre for Infectious Diseases show that of all the HIV-infected heterosexual women in Canada, nearly half are Afro-Canadians.

"High-risk behaviours like formal and informal polygamy, aversion to birth control, excisions and circumcisions are an everyday part of life," says Chantal Londji Dang during an interview in the boardroom of her downtown condominium complex. Until recently, the Cameroonian ex-pat was a producer and broadcast journalist. Today, she devotes all of her time to educating African women new to this country.

The foundation she runs is named for her sister. Madeleine Sanam had her first clash with authority at sixteen when she was kicked out of Catholic high school– she refused to read aloud a love letter intercepted by one of the nuns. It was the beginning of a lifelong battle against the institutions and individuals who would try to oppress women, one that would last until her death of Leukemia in 1988.

Sanam was especially outspoken in the area of economic freedom. In Cameroon, a woman was not allowed to take out a loan without her husband’s co-signatures.

Dang had her sister in mind when, after being turned down for a loan in Canada–the bank asked whether she planned to take the money back to Africa instead of putting it into her production company–she started the foundation to help Afro-Canadian women write top-notch business plans.

It wasn’t until a friend brought it to her attention that health was a more immediate need that Dang had the idea to start an HIV-AIDS workshop.

"AIDS is related to the sex in a culture, but in the same culture no one wants to hear about it," she says, adding that 90 per cent of those born in Africa have at least one relative with the disease.

So far, close to 50 people, including men and people of non-African origin, have attended the 14-hour workshop taught by Dang and a handful of other Afro-Canadians every second Saturday at the Faculty Saint-Jean. Using a culturally sensitive approach, they tackle issues such as becoming comfortable talking about sex, knowing your rights in and out of the bedroom, and they detail what to do if you think you might be at risk.

Since Africa is, obviously, a vast continent with disparate cultures, languages, and attitudes about sexual activity, the hope is that this first generation of trainees will take the basics they’ve learned and offer more tailored guidance within their own communities.

"We hope that maybe they’ll get 15 women together, and then they’ll get 15 women together," says Dang.

"We’re not going to save a nation, but we can do our small part here."

For more information, call 490-7332.