A walk in their shoes

“Are you ready to experience Beatrice’s life?” says a woman with a deep voice into the headphones that you’re wearing.

You accept the challenge and walk into a big canvas tent. Everything goes down hill from there for 7-year-old Beatrice, now played by you.

The voice tells you that your pregnant sister just died in childbirth, leaving you to take care of her child. Your father deserted you at a young age and your mother died of AIDS.

More than 800 people came to take a walk in the shoes of a child living in rural Africa at the traveling exhibit that did a five-day stint in the parking lot of the Crossing Church in Costa Mesa.

A similar exhibit is going on in Santa Ana through Wednesday at Trinity United Presbyterian church.

The exhibit is designed to garner donations for World Vision, the Christian charity that tours around the country, to fund its relief efforts. About 100 people adopted families from Thursday through Monday, according to the event’s coordinators.

Janice Walker, of Costa Mesa, is a regular member of the Crossing and has donated to World Vision for seven years. She volunteered for a four-hour shift coordinating the exhibit Monday after she heard it was coming to town.

Greeting people at the exit of the tent, Walker noticed that many of them came out in an introspective mood.

“You can see people are pretty touched by it. It’s to the point where it’s so emotional it’s hard to talk about,” Walker said.

The Crossing as a whole tries to encourage its members to get involved in charitable ways.

The church sponsors mission trips to Uganda, India, Vietnam, Mexico and El Salvador itself, and also welcomes outside groups like World Vision to bring their presentations.

“Our church is very strong on outreach programs whether locally or worldwide,” said George Freundner, a parishioner who helped set up the exhibit and worked there on a few different days.

A recorded track on a miniature iPod that you’re given at the entrance guides you through the different rooms in the tent. They contain pictures of your child and his or her life — there are three children altogether. Each room brings a new tragedy, but all of the stories end with a World Vision aid worker vastly improving the child’s life by providing food, clothing and blankets.

REPORTER ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].