COEUR d'ALENE - Israel Nehemiah Musonda is personally connected to one of the issues featured this week in the fourth annual "Footsteps: A Journey of Many" interactive exhibit at North Idaho College.

As a native-born Zambian, the reality of African children being orphaned by HIV and AIDS hits home. Musonda's mom opened an orphanage in Zambia 15 years ago in an effort to provide hope, relief and love to little children who otherwise have nothing.

"She tries to get there twice a year, like during Christmastime and springtime, because she wants to spend time with the kids," Musonda said Thursday afternoon. "They call her Santa Claus, and to see her is like, 'Mama's back.' They also call her 'Mama.'"

The Footsteps exhibit brings people on a guided tour through a dimly lit room sectioned into intimate, walk-through exhibits. Many who go through have emotional experiences while learning about deeply troubling problems that exist in the world and in their own backyards. At the end of Footsteps is the Room of Hope, where trained counselors have conversations with those who have completed the tour. Footsteps began Tuesday and ended Thursday.

NIC's International Student Club created the African orphan exhibit, which presented information through photos, visual aids such as dirty, ragged children's clothing on a table as well as a heartrending video. Musonda, who serves as the club's vice president, narrated part of the video with his own story.

"I feel like we have the responsibility to share that with our students and also this community, for them to be aware," the 28-year-old psychology student said. "It's not all rainbows and sunshine. But there is hope."

He said a big inspiration for the exhibit was "definitely knowing that there's more work to be done, bring awareness to Idaho."

"It's not really diverse," he said. "But also, us being African, or Zambian, I feel like it's our responsibility to share and to also show our story."

Footsteps included an interactive homelessness exhibit presented by NIC's TRiO Club, a haunting sex-trafficking exhibit organized by the philosophy club and an exhibit about discrimination presented by NIC's Gender and Sexuality Alliance. The discrimination exhibit was set up like an office, but in the family photos posted around the room, the faces of significant others were blurred.

"We've been, as a club, really passionate about this whole 'Add the Words' project, so we thought about a picture on a desk," said GSA treasurer August Nelson, 19, of Coeur d'Alene. "You would put a picture of you and your spouse on a desk. What if we blurred out their face so you couldn't tell if they were male or female?"

She said it was a "big deal" for the exhibit to educate students about the 'Add the Words' movement, which calls for the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to be added to Idaho's existing Human Rights Act.

"There are so many people who live in Idaho who don't know that people can get fired for being gay or can get denied housing for being gay or transgender," she said.

Footsteps participant and student Kate Ness, 26, of Coeur d'Alene, was one of those people.

"I was shocked that someone could get fired over that," Ness said. "That was gut-wrenching for me. That was a reactionary shock."

Marisa Nunez, 24, of Sandpoint, went through Footsteps for her first time Wednesday. She said it was an "eye-opening" experience, especially as the mother of a young boy.

"I wasn't aware that Seattle was No. 6 in sex trafficking, and that's so close," she said. "I imagine they get most of it through their ports, but if somebody came over into Coeur d'Alene, we have a lot of good-looking people over here, and just snatching somebody up and taking them over there - God knows if they'd ever be seen again."

She said she would definitely recommend others to experience Footsteps because it will help them realize what's happening in the world around them.

"We're just so unaware," she said. "If nobody knows anything, then there's really nothing that's going to get done."

Assistant director of student development, Heather Erikson, estimated about 200 people went through Footsteps, which changes each year but always focuses on oppression and social injustice.

"Each of the exhibits has a specific message, but then they also highlight just what it is like to be in somebody else's shoes, or walk in their footsteps," she said. "Diversity is one of our core values, and also community engagement. This exhibit touches on both of those core values.

"I think it's incredibly important for people, not just students, to take a moment to look at other people's lives and to empathize with situations that they're not familiar with."