Be a Guardian Angel this Holiday

“I had lost hope and was doing nothing but roaming around the village,” said Joyce.   The second of three children, Joyce’s mother died from HIV/AIDS when she was 6.  After her mother’s death she lived with her father for a while.  “He never provided any basic needs for us,” she said, “he was drunk all the time and beat us.”  As a result, Joyce and her siblings went to the village to live with their 100-year-old grandmother who had no means to support them.

CAFI found Joyce collecting mangoes to sell for income.  Through CAFI’s Smart Girls program, Joyce was given a scholarship to attend vocational school where she learned knitting and tailoring.  Upon graduation, she found a job in a nearby town.

“Of the many girls who need help, why me?” she said.  “There are many people who want to do this but don’t get the opportunity.  I’m now a responsible person.  I don’t ask for money from a man. I am working very hard so I can take care of my siblings and my grandmother.”

Joyce is one of thousands of HIV impacted adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa.

Just last year more than 80 percent of new HIV infections were in adolescent girls. You can be a Guardian Angel to vulnerable girls like Joyce.  Your support will enable them to learn skills that equip them to earn a living for themselves and to help others.

“In the future I want to start up a personal business to give a chance to other vulnerable girls in my village to learn what I have been given a chance to learn,” Joyce said.  One of her teachers commented, “Joyce is going to be a great woman of intelligence. Despite her poor family background she is a very dedicated and hopeful girl.  She listens to advice and sets goals for herself, which I am sure she will achieve.”

This holiday please become a Guardian Angel and help Joyce and other girls like her.
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Anita M. Smith, President
Children’s AIDS Fund International