You can be a guardian angel to HIV-impacted and vulnerable girls like Joy.    Joy lost her father to HIV/AIDS when she was 8 years old, and shortly after his death her mother started showing symptoms of a similar disease.    At the time, Joy did not know that her mother was living with HIV and already on antiretroviral medication (ARV).     When she learned about her mother’s HIV disease, “I felt the world had come to an end,” she says.  Her mother was the only provider for Joy and her younger sister.   As Joy’s mother’s health worsened, Joy took on more and more responsibility.    Now that her mother is on anti-retroviral medication she tries to find light work to earn a bit of money for food.  Joy—now age 16—gets herself, her younger sister and a step-sister to school each day.    Unlike other children who take lunch at school, these children cannot eat because there is no money to pay lunch dues.    After school, Joy and the younger girls try to find work in the community to raise money for food, medicine, school fees and books, sometimes not coming home until 9 or 10 at night.   If they fail to raise enough funds, Joy and the younger girls sometimes cannot attend school because the fees are not paid.

Joy is just one of nearly 18 million of  children around the world orphaned by HIV/AIDS who needs a Guardian Angel.

You can be the  Guardian Angel who helps provide Joy and other young girls with food and an education to equip them to live a healthy, hopeful future. (learn more)

Daisy lost her husband to HIV/AIDS six years ago.  While she suspected that she had the same disease that claimed her husband, she continued to care for their children. While working on her family’s behalf, she contracted tuberculosis, which left her very weak.

Despite the challenges of both HIV /AIDS and tuberculosis, Daisy tries to provide a roof over her children’s heads.   But she is not able to earn enough to pay for rent, daily food, school fees, and other expenses like clothing and shoes for the children.  This troubles Daisy.   Her teen-aged daughters attend school when they can, if school fees are paid.  They do not eat lunch, since the lunch fees are not paid.    After school the girls—ages 12 and 16—try to find any work they can to earn some money toward their food and school fees.  The girls return to their one-room house very late each night after trying to earn income.  Because they don’t have electricity, the girls must do any homework they have by candle light.

Determined to improve the family’s circumstances, Daisy attended a business skills and poultry management training done by CAFI partner Destiny Friends International.    She learned how to turn economic opportunities into profit that will provide her family with food, shelter, school fees, and other life necessities.  But Daisy has no funds to invest in the economic development opportunity that is readily available.

That is where you can help.

You can be a Guardian Angel this holiday season to provide seed funds for poultry projects, fish ponds, goats, chickens, and pig farming—all of which provide HIV impacted families the chance to earn funds through legitimate business that will benefit their children with secure housing, regular food and school fees.

Please become a Guardian Angel and help Daisy and thousands of other families create a future for her children.
(learn more)

Anita M. Smith, President
Children’s AIDS Fund International

“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.
(learn more)

Anita M. Smith, President
Children’s AIDS Fund International

The holidays are a time to count our blessings.     And at Children’s AIDS Fund International our friends and supporters are at the top of the list.

Why?

Without you, the God’s Can Orphan School would not have walls and a roof so the HIV-impacted children in the slum could attend school.

Without you, Brian—a young HIV-positive man–would not be able to attend university.

Without you, 16-year-old Joyce would not have attended vocational skills to learn knitting to support herself and her two sibling—all orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Without you, 10-year-old orphaned Victor would not have received life-saving antiretroviral medications that have given her both health and hope for the future.

And because of all of you who got involved, these children’s lives, and thousands more, have been changed.

Thank you for caring about the millions of precious HIV-impacted children around the world, and for allowing us the privilege of being your partner in the process of helping them.

On behalf of Children’s AIDS Fund and all the HIV-impacted children at home and abroad that you have touched.    Happy Holidays!

Be a Guardian Angel to young men like Segaki.     After his mother died when he was 2, Segaki lived in the village with his grandmother for several years, eventually moving to the city to live with his father and step mother.  Because Segaki’s father lost his job and is not able to sustain the family of seven, Segaki finds whatever work he can to pay school fees.   Interested in sports, Segaki wants to attend a vocational school where he can gain playing and coaching skills.

But Segaki is not idle.    He is focused on helping other vulnerable children in the community.   Working with one of CAFI’s partners, Destiny Friends International (DEFI), he mobilizes the youth for sports activities.   “The challenge that bothers me is these kids have very many needs and I can’t meet them,” he says.    “When I came from the village to the city (Kampala, Uganda), I thought life was going to be much better.    After some time I realized that I have to be positive toward my condition in order to change it.”   His motto:   Hope Against Hope.    “I now believe in myself, am free of stress and can now guide and talk to my peers about high self esteem,” he says.

Segaki is one of nearly 18 million children around the world orphaned by HIV/AIDS who needs a Guardian Angel himself, even as he is serving as a Guardian Angel for the children in his community.

Won’t You Become a Guardian Angel for a Child Like This? (learn more)

Anita M. Smith, President
Children’s AIDS Fund International

This week the US Senate and people with HIV bid farewell to a stalwart friend and supporter.     Dr. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has been a tireless advocate for people impacted by HIV since his election to the House of Representatives in 1994.   A physician who understands the clinical aspects of HIV/AIDS in a way most of his legislative colleagues do not, Coburn has tirelessly advocated for treatment for people with HIV in the US and around the world.

At a time when the national AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) had waiting lists of thousands who could not afford to purchase HIV medication, Coburn advocated for federal funding to provide treatment for all.   As a result, today there are no waiting lists for HIV treatment in the US.

To resolve domestic treatment and care issues, Coburn reached across the political aisle and worked with Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) to address issues within the Ryan White Care Act to ensure needed clinical treatment and care for all.

CAFI honors and thanks Dr. Coburn for his tireless support of people with HIV.

Globally, Dr. Coburn worked to ensure that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) ensured that the most of the appropriated funds were used to provide treatment to people with HIV.    As a result, millions of people around the world are alive today because of the treatment they have received through the PEPFAR program.

An avid advocate for fiscal responsibility and transparency, Dr. Coburn fought tirelessly to ensure that the American taxpayers were treated fairly in terms of government spending, arguing that waste today will adversely impact future generations.

Whether or not one agreed with Dr. Coburn’s political perspectives on all the issues, there is no argument that he was a champion for people with HIV/AIDS unparalleled by his political colleagues.     He will be sorely missed.

AIDS is a plague – numerically, statistically and by any definition known to human mankind.

World AIDS Day—commemorated annually on December 1— is to encourage every individual to be aware of HIV; to understand how to reduce HIV transmission, to ensure that people suffering from HIV/AIDS have equal access to treatment and care, and to make sure that people suffering from it are free from discrimination and can live a normal life within the community.

This year’s theme “Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths”,  is not just used for a single day, but is highlighted throughout the year across many countries to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness within the context of other major global events.

 Participating and sharing in World AIDS Day reminds us all that HIV is still very much with us and we need  to join hands to bring about an HIV free generation.

The statistics are staggering:

• – It is estimated that globally a total of 34 million people suffer HIV infection.
• – As many as 25 million people have died from the deadly HIV virus between 1981 and 2007, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.

Through the Children’s AIDS Fund International (CAFI), you can  provide prevention education to youth, treatment, care, support for HIV/AIDS orphans, nutrition, and other tangible assistance that will enable us to achieve an HIV Free Generation.