Hello and welcome to O.R.K, the home of the Orphan Rescue Kits!. Build an O.R.K yourself or help build one, for as little as $4! O.R.K is an intiative of the Coolamon (Australia) Rotary Club, to assist the survival of African Orphans..enjoy your stay and help us build the O.R.K! Be sure and visit the MAPS Project and the exciting Mountains of the Moon..the links are over there
The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Report 2008-09 has just beed received here in Australia and in it there is an article on RFFA’s Founder and CEO Marion Bunch. Click on the image below to read the article. Good on You Marion!
Rotary Foundation Annual Report 08-09
“It was a wonderful experience by our club members to raise the money. We’re working on a presentation of what we did in 2009, of which the ORK project was our main club project and our first ever club project.
Warm Regards
Tiang
Rotaract Club of Perth President”
Here is a great story of one Rotaract Club, the Perth Rotaract Club in Western Australia, these Rotaractors organised several fund raising functions to raise money to invest in the Orphan Rescue Kit. Well done President Tiang Cheng and the Perth Rotaract Club. Below is a video on what these wonderful young people did in 2009 for the orphans of Africa.
Reagan and Marion
Please go to Reagan’s Pledge and read and comment if you may on Reagan’s first blog to his web site:
Mathare Slums the Playground
Through our RFFA Board we have received this letter from an American Rotarian currently in Nairobi visiting the Mathare area where RFFA does a lot of work. Eric Jacobson is a member of the Rotary Club of Flower Mound in Texas and here is his letter:
“Please pass this note on to my fellow Flower Mound Rotarians.
I am working right now in the Mathare Valley slums of Nairobi and with some of the very Aids orphans that RFFA is assisting. The poverty is unimaginable. Rotary is doing something very, very incredible here – giving love and hope where few others venture. I have had a wonderful meeting with the Rotary leaders here and pass you their deepest gratitude. I have found myself spontaneously crying more in the past few days here than in the past few years combined. It is completely wrong for any children on this earth to have to live this way and I have found myself angry with God as I struggle with it. Aids is a double whammy here and what Rotary and a few other orgs (my wife’s NGO www.alarm-inc.org is another) are doing here is powerful and at this point makes what I do for a living seem ridiculously insignificant.
Please, PLEASE support this cause as I can not imagine a more significant place on this earth where it could be equally felt. Dig deep and make a difference here and I can assure you that I will bring you back pictures that will cause you to know how worthy this is of your contribution.
Please if you can not make it to the auction tonight then make the basic contribution to be an RFFA member. I am a fairly new Rotarian as you all know but one of the things that drew me to this amazing org was the hearts of the people in it. For years, our predecessors stood together to fight Polio and they were relentless. This is the new war we are fighting. As your fellow Rotarian, I want to ask each of you to please become a RFFA member and give the small amount that is required of such. I am sorry but I feel that if we can go to an amazing Rotary fundraiser like Vine and Dine that costs us $200 per couple, then we can certainly put out $100 to stand with our fellow Rotarians over here working fulltime in this effort. Could we please have 100% participation from the Flower Mound Rotary?
I would appreciate your prayers for my health and safety while here for another week and then an additional week in Uganda. I will be working with Aids orphans as well up there. Today, I just dressed as a clown and brought them soccer balls and shoes and gave them something to smile about. However, these Rotary heroes are doing something much bigger than that and we will find a cure in our lifetimes.”
God Bless, Eric Jacobson
Recently our Rotary District 9700 raised over US$65,000 for Orphan Rescue in Africa. The first of the monies have been spent in The Ivory Coast and here are some photos of what is being done by RFFA and Hope World wide in Africa:
AND here is a translation of the thank you letter from one of the students who is being looked after by RFFA:
BROU AKE-BLA SYLVIANNE February, 1st 2010, Abidjan
Topic: thankfulness to HOPE CI and ORPHAN RESCUE
My name is Brou Ake-Bla Sylvianne
I am in the 6th form of primary school in a school called “The Success”
I am orphan by my father side and registered in the NGO AHIKOU who does a lot for us in the psychosocial support
This letter is addressed to HOPE and ORPHAN RESCUE; I am grateful for what you do for us, because I have been able to be registered at school thanks to your support; without this help I wouldn’t have been to school this year.
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE DISTRICT 9700 ORK PROJECT UNDER PAST DISTRICT GOVERNOR FRED LONERAGAN AND RAE LONERAGAN. A MIGHTY EFFORT!
Marion Bunch and Reagan Omondi from Kenya
We invite all of you landing on this site to join Reagan Ondiju and his mates on his blog.
To read about RFFA’s latest project in Africa please log onto Reagan’s Pledge above and have a look around. Young Reagan lives in Mathare one of Nairobi’s worst slums. Reagan is an outstanding young man and below you can hear Reagan talk with Marion Bunch CEO of RFFA. {Rotarians for Fighting AIDS}:
In sub-Saharan Africa, where the drugs only started arriving a few years ago, resistance is partly the unforeseen consequence of good intentions. There are not enough drugs to go around, so clinics run out and patients can’t do full courses. The inferior meds available in Africa poison other patients. Misprescriptions are common and monitoring is scarce.
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, Under Secretary-General of the United Nations
JOHANNESBURG, 30 November 2009 (PLUSNEWS) - Some headway has been made in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and young people, but too many are still needlessly infected, and receive little or no treatment, care and support.
“Children have a right to be born free from HIV,” said Michael Sidibé, UNAIDS executive director. “No cost is too high for saving mothers and babies.”
This is according to Children and AIDS: The Fourth Stocktaking Report, launched on 30 November by UNICEF in partnership with UNAIDS, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
The annual report examines evidence of progress in four key areas in 2008: prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), paediatric HIV care and treatment, prevention of HIV among adolescents and young people, and protection and support for children affected by HIV and AIDS.
The most significant progress was in PMTCT, with 45 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women globally receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to prevent them passing HIV to their children; up from 24 percent in 2006.
Several countries with high HIV prevalence expanded PMTCT coverage to most pregnant women needing treatment: 73 percent in South Africa, 91 percent in Namibia and 95 percent in Botswana. Other countries lagged behind: in Nigeria only 10 percent of pregnant women with HIV were tested and treated to prevent transmission to their babies.
The countries most successful at scaling up PMTCT incorporated their programmes into existing maternal and child health services, the report noted.
On the same day, WHO released new recommendations for PMTCT that include providing ARV treatment to all HIV-positive women from 14 weeks of pregnancy until they stop breastfeeding. The new guidelines are expected to further reduce the number of infected infants.
“In many high-income countries paediatric HIV has been virtually eliminated,” commented Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO. “This shows what is possible.”
Approximately 38 percent of children living with HIV were receiving ARV treatment in 2008 - an improvement of nearly 40 percent from 2007 - but still less than the percentage of HIV-positive adults being treated.
Without diagnosis and treatment, AIDS mortality in infants is highest in the first two months of life, but globally only 15 percent of babies were tested for HIV by the time they were two months old.
The report pointed out that even an HIV-positive diagnosis did not guarantee a child would receive treatment. A Clinton Foundation study from eight countries found that 53 percent of HIV-positive mothers and their children were lost to follow-up after birth.
The situation of children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS improved little in 2008, with only one in eight households caring for such children receiving medical, financial or educational assistance.
Underfunded and understaffed social welfare ministries struggled to deliver services to children affected by AIDS, leaving community and faith-based organizations to try filling the gaps. “The current economic crisis, if prolonged, is likely to worsen such outcomes unless efforts are undertaken to mitigate its impact,” the report warned.
Despite modest increases among young people in their knowledge of HIV and how to prevent it, those aged 15 years to 24 years still accounted for 45 percent of new adult infections in 2008, with girls in sub-Saharan Africa by far the hardest hit.
The report concluded that investments in HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment for women and children were paying off, but needed to be bolstered and used more wisely. Programmes should be informed by evidence, and constantly monitored and evaluated for impact.
In Uganda with Marion Bunch
Dear Rotarians
Rotarians For Fighting AIDS, Inc. (RFFA) shares a greeting card and an inspiring message of hope with Rotarians everywhere as we Honor World AIDS Day, December 1, 2009. These notes, pictures and paintings are sent by two groups of Kenyan school children who represent only a small fraction of the 12 million HIV/AIDS Orphans living on the continent of Africa today.
Thanks to so many of you who have supported RFFA’s work, the children who send their vision of a world free of HIV/AIDS are in school today. They are there because you gave the gift of education and hope for the future by paying for their school fees, supplies and uniforms. We want you to see and read about the world you are changing.
Did you know that even basic education is not free in Kenya? An orphan child has no way of affording any school without assistance from concerned adults like our Rotarian partners in so many countries. These children sent their thanks and their vision to all of you for your kindness and generosity. As RFFA’s Board of Directors, we are deeply grateful as well.
We invite all Rotarians to join Rotarians For Fighting AIDS, Inc., and our Founder and CEO Marion Bunch
, as we continue to help the orphans and vulnerable children of Africa achieve their dreams. Visit our website www.rffa.org for more information.
Sincerely Yours In Rotary Service,
The Board of Directors
Rotarians For Fighting AIDS, Inc.
“This is our country. It’s so beautiful. Everybody
is health there and no AIDS in our country.”
Leah Wanoro, Age 12, Cura Village, Kenya
When asked to imagine a world without AIDS
“My name is Alice and I am health.” When asked to describe a future without
HIV/AIDS, that is how twelve year old Leah Wonoro, an HIV/AIDS orphan of Cura Village,
Kenya, began her drawing. We hope that you will join Leah and the other Orphans and
Vulnerable Children who live in the Cura Rotary Home and attend Primary School; the
youth of the Valley View Academy in Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya; and Rotarians For Fight-
ing AIDS as we honor World AIDS Day 2009 by imagining a future of hope, a future free of HIV/AIDS and a
future made possible through the power of Rotary”
So that you know who we are here we are in Atlanta very recently for a strategic planning meeting. It was a very productive two days and much was achieved. A full report will follow in the RFFA newsletter.
The RFFA Board October 2009
Left to right back row standing are Mr. Glenn, Mike McGovern, Anne Glenn, Olu Olowu, Vivian Smith, Mike Eldon, Patrick Chisanga, Seated L to R: Barry Smith, Marion Bunch, John Glassford and Kate Holmes.
Here are two videos of this remarkable woman of our times Annie Lennox.
RFFA Awards Outstanding Achievement At Sixth Annual Meeting in Birmingham, England During the Rotary International Convention, RFFA Founder and CEO Marion presented the second annual Jerome W. Schutz HERO Award to Eric Krystal, Rotary District 9200 AIDS Officer and the RFFA Kenya Country Representative. During her presentation, Marion noted Eric’s dedication and selfless service as RFFA’s vital link between the international Rotary community and the orphan children on the continent of Africa.
The ORK Supporters Rae and Fred Loneragan and Susan Pearse
A year has passed since Past District Governor Fred and Rae Loneragan started the ORK awareness programme throughout District 9700 and after 42 visits to the Rotary clubs in D 9700 PDG Fred has raised around US $65,000 from donations from the clubs in our district.
The funds raised will be going to RFFA’s Orphan Rescue Kits in Kenya, The Ivory Coast and South Africa. PDG Fred and Rae Loneragan should be congratulated on a magnificent effort in achieving such a wonderful result.