By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Children, even kids orphaned by AIDS, relax around other kids.

That’s the premise 15-year-old Michael Odokara-Okigbo took with him to Nigeria last year, when he visited hospitals and orphanages.

The Maine teenager took about 1,500 photos, which he edited into just 13 haunting faces. Together, they create a show that he titled “Mugari (I Will Live).”

St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center unveiled the photos Thursday, World AIDS Day, at its Beeaker Gallery.

The photographs were easy to take, said Michael, whose grandparents are from Nigeria.

“I asked them to stand and smile,” he said. “They did the rest.”

The chosen photographs show no smiles, though. Kids from 3 to 16 years old stand stoically in black and white images. They look sad and lonely.

“What they look like is what they are feeling,” said Michael, a sophomore at Portland’s Waynflete School. “They’re being straight up.”

Michael traveled to Nigeria with his mother, Shalom Odokara, executive director of the Portland-based nonprofit group Women in Need Inc.

A former official with the World Bank, Shalom Odokara has taken her son with her while meeting with organizations in 25 countries.

When she prepared to go to Nigeria last year, she told Michael he could come along. But he needed a purpose.

Using money from his $10-per-week allowance, he bought photo supplies, deciding upon a collection of photographs of children touched by AIDS.

He hoped to connect with people, reminding them of the ripples created when one person contracts the life-threatening disease.

“Everyone is affected by AIDS, whether it’s your father or it’s your cousin’s best friend,” he said.

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.

Michael not only photographed the children, he got to know them, too. Sometimes, he spent a day or two with the children. He regularly e-mails a boy his age, named Abraham. They talk about video games, among other things.

He also hears updates on his favorite, a 4-year-old boy named Immanuel. The boy attends a church near his grandparents’ home.

A year ago when Michael visited, the boy never spoke. He’d lost both parents to AIDS.

Immanuel’s photo leads off the exhibit.

“You can see in his eyes the sadness,” said Michael, who plans to gather more photos.

His next destination: Bangladesh, where he plans to photograph street children.

“People need to know about them, too,” Michael said.