Colleen Showalter from Desert AIDS Project organized an event called "Entre Mujeres" to provide hygiene kits and education to women in Mecca about HIV/AIDS. Over 400 pregnant and nursing mothers received supplies like diapers, sanitizer, and tampons. Showalter was moved by an interaction with a sad-eyed little girl who only received one teddy bear for her younger sister. This experience highlighted the basic needs that many women and families in the area lacked and motivated Showalter to continue organizing initiatives to help. The event allowed Showalter to see how some women live without stable housing and inspired her to pursue similar work to make a difference in people's lives.

1. Desert Sun Newspaper Entre Mujeres Article
August 18, 2008
Section: Desert Today
Page: D1
Mornings with Maggie: Helping to fill up the empty spaces
Maggie Downs
By Maggie Downs
The Desert Sun It was the little girl's eyes that really got to Colleen Showalter. Then, what was
supposed to be another day at work turned into something transformative. Showalter works for
Desert AIDS Project and has a title that doesn't quite fit on a business card: fundraising and special
events manager and staff liaison for 100 Women. Basically, she pulls people together to make things
happen. Most recently was an event called "Entre Mujeres" ("Between Women") — an effort to
educate women about AIDS and HIV while giving them some necessary health and beauty products.
Though the event was supposed to begin at 10 a.m. in Mecca, there were already lines of women and
children at 8:30 a.m., when the people from Desert AIDS Project arrived. In addition to the hygiene
kits, there were also teddy bears for the children. That's where Showalter met the girl with the sad
brown eyes. The girl's mother explained in Spanish that only one bear could be chosen — and it
would be going to the youngest child, a girl about 3 years old.
The older daughter, who didn't appear to be more than 5, looked up at Showalter with defeat and
disappointment. "It was like you could see everything in her whole life in the way she looked at me,"
Showalter says. "Her eyes were so old." Showalter ran after the older girl and gave her a bear, too. "In
everyone's life, you have moments that you remember, and this little girl changed me," she says. "The
way she looked at me then will always stay with me."
Desert AIDS Project partnered with Women, Infants and Children in Mecca for the event. They called
for donations of simple products — anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, shampoo, conditioner, tampons,
lotion, sunblock, diapers — and people from all over the valley responded. Other products were
purchased by volunteer/donor group 100 Women. The mothers also received blankets and teddy
bears, all handcrafted by the Stitch in Time volunteer group. The products were separated into kits,
then distributed to more than 400 pregnant and nursing mothers in Mecca. Even when supplies were
running low, nobody went home empty-handed. "It was like the loaves and the fishes," Showalter
says.
That night, Showalter carpooled with another employee from Desert AIDS Project. The ride home
was quiet, the air heavy. They had just assisted 400 women there. But what about the women in
other pockets and crevices throughout the valley? She was in tears that night. "The problems felt so
big," she says. "It's hard to talk to women about self-esteem and taking control of their health when
their most basic needs aren't being fulfilled." This effort from Desert AIDS Project responds to the

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growing number of Latina women and young girls with HIV and AIDS, some of the fastest-growing
groups of people affected by the disease.
The project spiraled into something more meaningful than Showalter ever imagined.
"It was more than I could convey as a work experience to my boss," she says.
He told her to write her experience down, like a journal. She wrote: "One woman who could not have
been older than 20 and had three children with her and another on the way, looked so tired but
happy to have a large supply of diapers given to her. When I took the basket and helped her to her
car, I was horrified to realize that the old '70s station wagon was not only her car but her home. It
had electric tape holding it together and a put-together bedroom in the back.
"I just stood there and watched her drive away and knew I couldn't even imagine what her days must
be like. The perspective that I had at that moment changed so many things that I had formerly
believed." The experience has motivated Showalter to throw herself into similar initiatives. In
December, for example, Desert AIDS Project will be collecting children's clothing and food for the
holidays.
"It would be a huge step if we could all get past the politics and judgments and see that we're all
simply trying to survive," she says. Showalter still thinks about the little girl with sad brown eyes. She
realizes that with a wrinkle in fate, her adopted daughter might have been in that line, staring back at
her. Realistically, Showalter doesn't know if the handmade bear will have any impact on that young
girl's life.
"For that one minute, something good she didn't expect to happen did," Showalter says. "Maybe it will
just help her realize that not every day has to end with something bad."
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