Enjoy

Mount Kenya and Rhinos

We are now in the early planning stages of our next major project for Africa.

It is proposed to climb Mount Kenya to celebrate ANZAC Day 2015, the centenary of ANZAC Day.  Summit on April 25th 2015.

We will be taking two teams one to climb Batian (5,199 metres (17,057 ft) the second highest peak in Africa behind Kilimanjaro, the other team to go to Point Lenana (4,985 metres (16,355 ft).  We are looking to take some Australian, New Zealand and Turkish soldiers with us on this adventure.

The beneficiaries will be Rotarians For Family Health and AIDS Prevention or RFFHA.  The funds will go to orphan rescue education for secondary school children from Mathare in Nairobi.  The next beneficiary will be Coolamon House in Hout Bay our twin Rotary club.  As well we want to raise funds for Legacy Australia and the RSA New Zealand who both look after the widows and children of our returned soldiers.

We are looking for expressions of interest to join us on this unique adventure in Africa.  More details will be forthcoming via this web site and by writing to me John Glassford email: john (at) glassford.com.au or by calling me on (02) 6927 6027 or if overseas 61 2 6927 6027.

Stay tuned and book mark this page please.  The web site link URL will stay as is.  Thank you.

Excellent introduction to Mount Kenya by Peter McBride. Looking forward to seeing the whole film one day soon.

RFFA (Rotarains For Fighting AIDS), Australia Chair PDG Fred Loneragan received the RFFA Hero award at the District 9700 change over last night in Leeton. Here is PDG Fred receiving the award from IPDG Ian Simpson. This award was made by the full board of RFFA and is in memory of the CEO of RFFA, Marion Bunch, whose son Jerry contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion.

Jerry was the catalyst behind Marion forming the RFFA Action Group to fight HIV/AIDS through Rotary.

IPDG Ian Simpson, John Glassford and PDG Fred Loneragan

“The annual District 9700 Change Over was held at the Leeton Returned Soldiers Club in conjunction with the Leeton Rotary Club’s 71st Change Over Dinner.  Over 170 Rotarians and their partners were present at the function.  It was a long night and the best was left to almost last which was the presentation to PDG Fred Loneragan with the RFFA Jerry’s Hero Award.  DG Ian Simpson made the presentation and introduced John Glassford as a RFFA Board member and of course PDG Fred.

DG Ian read out a message from Marion Bunch which was warmly received by all present.  The award is a beautiful crystal red AIDS ribbon, made in Atlanta, delivered to Bangkok and then to Leeton in ONE piece.  Fred was very surprised and delighted to receive the award on behalf of the children of Africa.  The dinner then concluded with the change over from IPDG Ian Simpson to incoming DG Greg Brown.”

We would like to introduce you all to Tracy Monica.  Tracy gave us Mountains of the Moon team a wonderful speech in Mathare last December.  Here it is: mathare-speech Once you have read this then have a look at Tracy’s 1st term report at Secondary School below, click on the image and enlarge it:

Tracy's 1st Term Report

Following our visit to Mathare and meeting Tracy we decided to support her into Bishop Okoth’s Secondary School for Vulnerable girls.  We are going ot honour Tracy’s request to us at Mathare to help 200 of her peers who are now ready to go to Secondary School and who are vulnerable and at risk where they live now.

Tracy Monica

Tracy can be seen in her new school uniform proud as punch as we are of her efforts in her 1st term at her new school.  If you want to help us get other girls and boys out of Mathare please contact us via our email which is: john@glassford.com.au. Or call me on 61 2 6927 6027 anytime.

Megan MacDonald a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from the USA and now in Kenya put me onto this organisation via her wonderful blog site called There She Goes. Megan is one amazing lady and I met her briefly at the Los Angeles Rotary International Convention or was it Chicago? Megan is doing great work in my old home Kenya however this story is about South Africa.

It is about child headed households of orphans who are victims of AIDS. These are the children we in RFFA are helping with our Orphan Rescue Kits especially in Kenya.

One by One

Then I see a face, a smile,
a child who studies hard,
a doctor who returns to help
her village, a principal who
lets his students sleep on
the floor of his modest home
because they live too far,
a nun who’s worked here
half a century still laboring
every day, a young woman who’s
kept her four sisters safe and fed
after both parents died of AIDS.
There is hope for Africa,
one person at a time.

The Africa Project founded in 2005 as an all volunteer non profit organization, The Africa Project is making a real difference in the lives of children and families in Nkandla, South Africa, where extreme poverty is exasperated by the HIV pandemic and extremely drug resistant tuberculosis. Nkandla has a population of 133,602 of whom 57 percent are women. An estimated 90 percent of the population are unemployed and the majority of households are headed by women. Over 61 percent of the population consists of children under 18 years of age and 14 percent are under 5 years, placing a high dependency burden on a relatively small group of adult earners.

orphans of nkandla, bbc – cinematography from Natalie Haarhoff on Vimeo.

Part 1 The Legacy of AIDS – the SING Campaign

Such a sad story however it is so common now in Southern Africa. Please take the time to view all 5 of the these videos from Annie Lennox and her SING campaign. African children who are orphans from the AIDS pandemic need Annie Lennox and many many more like her. Annie is a rare gem that shines brightly for these children.

Part 2 is here: http://youtu.be/5bZicG7XEZc

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Kibera

Audio slideshow: Living with HIV in Kenya’s Kibera slum

Charles Sako is HIV-positive but thanks to the latest drugs is able to lead an active life in the Kenyan slum of Kibera where he lives. Six years ago, he was given a disposable camera for a week to document his life on HIV treatment.

As the United Nations meets in New York to discuss the global response to the pandemic over the next decade and to mark the 30th anniversary of the discovery of Aids, Charles gives us an update on how his own life has moved on.

The latest scientific research shows that treating people with HIV/Aids not only saves lives but can also prevent the virus from spreading. In Kenya, some 450,000 people – like Charles – are getting the drugs they need but another 250,000 are still waiting.

LIVING WITH AIDS

Photography by Sven Torfinn for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

RFFA Chair PDG Mark Doyle and William Asiko Coca Cola Africa Foundation President

PREMIER NATIONAL HIV TESTING & COUNSELING DAY

HELD IN EAST AFRICA

BY ROTARY DISTRICT

9200 & RFFA

Rotarians from 102 Rotary Clubs in the countries of Kenya and Uganda got together on April 30th, the Rotary-declared Rotarians At Work Day and did something that has never been done before in the history of Rotary – they held a nationwide HIV Testing & Counseling Day at 125 sites throughout the two countries that included wraparound health services! They called it the Rotary Family Health Day!

This one to three day event was the vision of District Governor Stephen Mwanje, District 9200 in East Africa. He engaged the support and partnership of RFFA (Rotarians For Fighting AIDS), the Rotarian Action Group led by CEO Marion Bunch. DG Stephen asked RFFA to help him obtain partners and resources to bring this event to life. He asked each Rotary Club to have ten representatives working at this event – or over 1,000 Rotary volunteers.

RFFA gained the pro bono services of its global partner, FHI (Family Health International) to help plan the overall project and to be the Primary Technical Partner in Kenya. AIDS Information Center was engaged as the Primary Technical Partner in Uganda. The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation (a six year partner of RFFA) provided $100,000 in mobilization costs for this event. Rotary Clubs held fundraisers to support the event. Thirty or more other technical partners in each country provided pro bono technical/medical support for this mission. RFFA leaders and the key partners worked with the Ministry of Health in each country in planning this event.

RFFA HIV Testing Day Report

Marion Bunch CEO RFFA

Dear RFFA Members and Friends,

Rotarians For Fighting AIDS (RFFA) sends you greetings in honor of WORLD AIDS DAY, (December 1). There are millions of people on every continent in the world that have either died of this disease or are trying to survive if they have access to anti-retroviral drugs.

We have chosen to focus our efforts on providing support for the 17.5 Million orphans and vulnerable children who are the tragic consequence of the AIDS pandemic.

What does it mean to be an orphan child in Africa? No food! No caregivers! No place to live! No one to love them or provide them with any guidance! Their fear of uncertainty is extreme while dealing with the depression of losing their Mom and/or Dad. They are prime prospects for child prostitution or membership in terrorist gangs! They grow up with a warped attitude on life and continue the awful cycle of poverty, illiteracy and disease, with no hope for the future.

RFFA and Rotary Clubs in Africa have been working for five years with partner organizations to find caregivers for these children and provide general sustenance. But these children still cannot go to school because school is not free in Africa. Education is the only foundation of hope for these children.

We offer you the opportunity to help these children so we can invest in future peacemakers and leaders of the world. The sum of $450 USD pays for one child’s school fees, school uniform, school supplies, a treated bed net, and some nutritional support for one year.

The children are grateful for whatever you can provide via our website at www.rffa.org.

Or you can use your cell phone and text to donate as follows: Send to: 27138, with a message “RFFA 50″ or whatever sum you want to provide after the letters “RFFA”. Your funds are managed by Rotarians here In the U.S. and then again upon receipt and distribution in Africa.

We sincerely thank you for your generosity and for your investment in the future of these children who so desperately need our help. Please donate whatever you can afford – what you are able to give in relation to your ability to give will make a difference in the life of a child made vulnerable by the AIDS pandemic.

Warmest wishes,

Marion Bunch begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting – CEO, and the RFFA Board of Directors

Message From Annie Lennox – World AIDS Day 2010

Today is a special day – It is World AIDS Day and the 3rd Anniversary of The SING Campaign.
I’m happy to tell you that we have come a long way in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

The new Global Report from UNAIDS shows that fewer people are becoming infected with HIV and that we have broken the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic.
We have reached the first part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halting and reversing the spread of HIV.

In less than five years, we have crossed the half way mark towards providing medicines to HIV positive pregnant women, in order to prevent transmission of the virus to their babies securing better health for mothers and children.

We are strengthening the platform for women and girls, to lead a movement against AIDS in support of Women’s rights. But the struggle continues.

The fight is far from over. We still have a long way to go. We need to continue to strengthen our focus on the needs and rights of young women, who are particularly vulnerable to HIV.

We need to ensure that global commitments are translated into increased support for women at the community level.

Men and boys must be our partners in transforming behaviors that endanger the health of society at large.
Raise your voice today – be an activist – fight for:

* Zero new infections – Protect yourself and your loved ones from infection. Know your status – get tested

* Zero discrimination – don’t tolerate STIGMA and DISCRIMINATION towards people living with HIV – Speak up – Take a stand – defend Human Rights

* Zero AIDS related deaths – convince people in power to ensure that money is available for treating, caring and supporting those who need it!