The establishment of the Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated as an AIDS-care charity in the mid 1980’s was inspired by the brave young life of Eve van Grafhorst, the first Australian child to be infected by HIV through a blood transfusion..and who fought a monumental battle against stigma and discrimination. It encouraged us to do what we are doing…caring especially for AIDS orphans and children living with HIV in different parts of the world.
November 20, 2009, marked the 16th anniversary of Eve’s death as an 11 year old and a special documentary of her life has just been released,
We invite you to view it at www.nzonscreen.com/title/all-about-eve-1994
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PROJECTS REVIEW - 2009
This year, with the help of supporters across Australia, our partners in Malawi and other parts of Africa , and the Australian government’s overseas development agency , AusAID, The Australian AIDS Fund Inc …in addition to its HIV/AIDS care and awareness work in Australia…has :-
- Built another secondary school – this one locally styled The Australian Progressive Academy – at Nogwe, in southern Malawi – which is now catering for 415 students, 230 of them girls. There are 120 AIDS orphans and 5 students with HIV. There are 5 teachers, including the Principal and a female teacher who both live onsite.
- We have since added an on-site girls’ boarding facility there to cater for 50 girls. (www.aids.net.au/aids-global-malawi-secondaryschool.htm
- Agriculture is now a part of this school’s curriculum, providing ample and willing labor to cultivate the ten one-hectare plots of land we bought for the establishment of a mini foodbowl. After the rains, in December, they’ll be planting maize, soya beans and rice…enough to feed the populations of both schools….as well as providing significant additional income. The banana plantation (1,500 plantlings)is flourishing and still yielding fruit. In addition, they have orange, mango and guava fruit trees! www.aids.net.au/news-20090612.htm
- In the past year, the groups in Malawi that we have supported and encouraged to grow their own food…through land, seed and fertiliser purchases….to meet their own needs as well as income-earning activities, have produced more than 25 tons of edible crops!
- This new school has been built in the same village (Nogwe) as the Australian Primary School which we built and opened in June last year. Of the 654 pupils at our Australian Primary School at Nogwe , 370 are girls. It’s also catering for 104 AIDS orphans and 14 HIV positive children. www.aids.net.au/aids-global-malawi-nogwe.htm
- Added a girls’ boarding facility…to accommodate 65 girls - at our other secondary school in Malawi, the Australian Secondary School at Kambona (www.aids.net.au/aids-global-malawi.kambona.htm , which is catering for some 300 teenagers.
- Provided some 40 computers (desktop and laptop) to the two secondary schools. The Kambona school is already connected to the Internet and the Nogwe secondary school will be connected by early December this year.
- Provided a 15 hp generator to the Nogwe secondary school to provide light and power in the absence of an electricity supply
- Our primary school at Nogwe uses solar/led lighting kits we had flown in from Canada
- Provided some 40 computers (desktop and laptop) to the two secondary schools. The Kambona school is already connected to the Internet www.aids.net.au/news-20090528.htm and the Nogwe secondary school will be connected by early December this year.
- This year we also funded the construction of 2 further water pipeline projects, feeding out from a central gravity-fed 3 tank storage facility at Ndirande, near Blantyre. This web now provides safe, clean water to some 30,000 people.www.aids.net.au/news-20090601.htm
- The two-storey multipurpose we built at Ndirande, a slum area of Blantyre, is now catering for 204 children and 86 adults attend literacy classes there every day. At weekends, it’s used as a fundraiser…providing an attractive venue for weddings and private functions. Income generation and self sufficiency in action. www.aids.net.au/aids-global-malawi-ndirande.htm
- In mid-November, we moved into a new direction, seeing an opportunity to spread the AIDS-awareness message more widely through Malawi…through community radio! We are currently exploring possibilities in Malawi’s southern Mulanje district in hand with the National Media Institute of Southern Africa (NAMISA)
- In Uganda, we have also begun a new supportive initiative – funding the construction of two side-by-side shops which will be rented out to provide an income to a community care group looking after teenagers and families living with HIV. These income-earning shops will be built by Christmas.
- In South Africa, we have also provided more assistance to the Noah’s Ark project in Johannesburg which is caring for children under the age of 6 who are also living with HIV. It involved the further renovation of a large old house donated to the project. www.aids.net.au/aids-global-noahsark.htm
- We have also continued, throughout the year, to ship parcels of hand-knitted infant clothing to Malawi, Uganda, South Africa, Cambodia. And, more latterly, to PNG and India. About 700,000 of these items have been distributed throughout the world..even throughout eastern Europe..South America, Nepal, PNG, and East Timor…and to aboriginal children in inland Australia. www.aids.net.au/aids-global-malawi-20061104.htm
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