LEWISTON – A presentation of photos by 15-year-old Maine artist Michael Odokara will highlight events Thursday as local groups join to recognize World Aids Day.

Odokara’s photographs of children of AIDS patients in West Africa will be displayed at the Beeaker Gallery of St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center. Single images from the exhibit, titled “Mugari (I Will Live),” will also be displayed for the day at the Chase Hall Gallery at Bates College and at the YWCA on East Avenue.

Meanwhile, groups plan to hold chocolate dessert sales to raise money for the AIDS/HIV Case Management Program at St. Mary’s and a candlelight walk.

In Lewiston-Auburn, there are currently about 100 diagnosed HIV cases, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Worldwide, about 39.4 million people have HIV, according to the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS. About half of those infected with the virus before the age of 25 will die before they reach 35.

Local events

Chocolate sales will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday at Bates College’s Chase Hall and at the YWCA. The Brunswick-based Merrymeeting AIDS Support Services will offer educational literature at both locations.

At 4:30 p.m., a candlelight walk from both places will proceed to St. Mary’s Beeaker Gallery, where a reception will be held for Odokara.

The photographs have been shown at several locations across Maine, including a state-sponsored meeting of youth leaders in October.

Odokara aimed to bring attention to the crisis by showing the faces of children fighting for ordinary needs: food, school fees and uniforms, according to a prepared statement.

“I thought it was important that they tell their stories themselves,” Odokara, a student at Portland’s Waynflete School, said in the statement. “I wanted to find out from them if there is any way a kid like me can help.”

The exhibit will hang in the hospital gallery throughout the month of December.