NBC ran this segment about Alicia Keys and the work she’s been doing in Africa and India with the “Keep a Child Alive” program. The program is “dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children and families.”

Definitely worth checking out:

Later today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will land in South Africa (the second stop of her 11-day trip to Africa) and meet with leaders to discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS, an epidemic that has hit South African particularly hard.

Approximately 6 million people are currently living with HIV in South Africa—more than any other country in the world. Women make up the largest number of those infected, but rates are high for children, too (nearly 300,000 children are infected). Tuberculosis (TB)—the leading cause of death in South Africa—is responsible an estimated 13 deaths every hour.

South Africa’s response to HIV/AIDS began early in the pandemic: the first AIDS Advisory Group was formed in 1985. And while the government has occasionally been criticized for its response to the epidemic, the past five years have seen consistent increases in HIV/AIDS funding. By 2011, domestic financing is scheduled to reach nearly $1 billion a year, but concerns linger over what effects the current recession (the first in 17 years) will have on the upcoming health budget. Observers remain cautiously optimistic that the new health minister, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, will follow in the strong footsteps of former health minister Barbara Hogan.

Donor financed health initiatives have played an important role in South Africa’s efforts to provide HIV prevention, care, and treatment services to its people. The country is one of the 15 focus countries for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), receiving nearly $600 million in 2008. Looking ahead, Eric Goosby, the new head of PEPFAR, said that focus countries should expect to see a greater emphasis on prevention, country partnerships and strengthening health systems.

Since 2002, South Africa has also received $228.6 from the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS and TB—and this aid, combined with that from PEPFAR and other donors, appears to be working, as the number of people living with HIV under the age of 20 has dropped. But as the global financial crisis threatens to overturn this progress, continued U.S. support for these programs is critical.

Stay tuned to the ONE blog for further updates on Secretary Clinton’s travels through Africa.

-Lisa Fleisher

The State Department has announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will “travel to Africa next week on a seven-nation tour aimed at highlighting the Obama administration’s commitment to the continent.” Clinton plans to visit 7 countries including Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.

You can read more details of the trip here. We’ll bring further news as it develops.

-Chris Scott

I read this story in Sunday’s New York Times on children fleeing Zimbabwe “for lives just as desolate” in South Africa, and wanted to share it here on the ONE Blog.

Below are some excerpts but you can read the full piece on their site.

With their nation in a prolonged sequence of crises, more unaccompanied children and women than ever are joining the rush of desperate Zimbabweans illegally crossing the frontier at the Limpopo River, according to the police, local officials and aid workers.

What they are escaping is a broken country where half the people are going hungry, most schools and hospitals are closed or dysfunctional and a cholera epidemic has taken a toll in the thousands. Yet they are arriving in a place where they are unwelcome and are resented as rivals for jobs. Last year, Zimbabweans were part of the quarry in a spate of mob attacks against foreigners….

South Africa’s national police force is exasperated by the crimes… most victims do not file complaints. After all, they are here illegally, unless remaining in the Showgrounds. “Last week, I had 1,500 ready for deportation,” he said.

The captain stood up, walking over to a computer screen. “We keep photos of the refugees killed near the border.”…

Mention of the children seemed to feed his exasperation. “Street kids, more all the time,” he said. “They come in as if they are playing in a game.”

He asked, “What do we do about these kids?”

-Virginia Simmons

By 2010, over 20 million children will have lost a parent to AIDS. The vast majority of these children live in developing countries, with eighty percent in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Less than one in ten of these children receive any form of external support. Without a safety net, these children are more likely to drop out of school, to be malnourished, to lose their homes, to face discrimination and abuse, and to contract HIV themselves.

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR in short, offers hope to children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. By providing key funding, PEPFAR enables its implementation partners to reach needy children and their families with life-saving treatment, prevention, and care.

Thanks to such support, Claire and her siblings in Rwanda are on the path to a brighter future. Claire’s parents died of AIDS when she was 17 years old, leaving her to care for her three younger siblings and two cousins. HIV positive herself, Claire was forced to rent their house for income and move her family into the backyard shed. In 2005, FXB International stepped in and provided the family with food, educational support, health care, HIV treatment, and grants to operate a small business. Today, Claire is a student at the Kigali Institute for Science and Technology, where she studies dietary therapy for people living with HIV. FXB continues to send her siblings and cousins to school, so that the children now enjoy a better chance of achieving their full potential.

In urban slums in South Africa, students like Nomthandazo are benefiting from HIV prevention and school support programs. In her early teens, Nomthandazo’s father passed away and her mother later died from AIDS. Although Nomthandazo’s aunt helped ensure that her basic needs (food shelter, medicine) were met, Nomthandazo had no one to teach her about sex, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections.

Fortunately, Nomthandazo’s teachers recognized her need for guidance and support. Nomthandazo was enrolled in an after-school program operated by FXB International. Through the program, Nomthandazo was able to learn important health and life skills including HIV/AIDS education and received counseling to help her cope with her grief and growing pains. She is now confident that she has the knowledge to make informed and safe choices in life.

Stories such as Claire’s and Nomthandazo’s demonstrate the need for HIV prevention, treatment, and care in resource-poor settings. Success stories like theirs can be repeated on a larger scale with full funding from Congress for PEPFAR, including orphans and vulnerable children programming.

-Kathleen Letchford, FXB USA

*Names and/or photos have been changed to protect privacy.

ONE and Keep a Child Alive are hosting screenings of We Are Together, a multi-award winning documentary that follows a children’s singing choir from Agape orphanage in South Africa:

The story:

Life has not been easy for 12-year old Slindile, her siblings and her friends at the Agape Orphanage in South Africa, where most of the children have lost their parents to AIDS. But they are still kids and teenagers, bashful around boys, squabbling with each other. And when they lift their voices in song, something extraordinary happens.

We Are Together will be screen starting this 4th of July weekend at New York’s Cinema Village. Come view the “celebration of resiliency” this weekend!
Tickets and show time info here.

-Betsy Avila

My name is Willard Musarurwa. I am a craftsmaker from Cape Town, and want to tell you about how Aid to Artisans has changed my life. You can watch my video , “How Does Aid to Artisans Make a Difference?” below.

Before meeting Aid to Artisans, I was sinking into deep trenches of desperation. Time was going by and I realized I had to make a living, sooner rather than later. I decided to be creative. When we were teenagers, we used to make cars, bicycles and animals for fun out of wire. This time, I did it to sell to tourists who come to Cape Town. It became my job although the income I generated was not sufficient, constant or regular, so I still couldn’t prepare a budget. I had to grow.

I decided to approach the Cape Crafts and Design Institute for assistance and luckily, I met Aid to Artisans and Stephen Burks, an American Designer. We designed a wire table. It took us 2 years to develop until it was accepted for an exhibition. The first time it hit the market, the product was hand picked by a U.S. distributor, Artecnica. I was able to use the income to start my own business, Feeling African, which has created jobs for 9 people and myself.

I will never forget when my tables were chosen as best product in South Africa at Design Indaba 2006, when they appeared in 20 South African magazines and twice in The New York Times, in Feb. 2007 and Feb. 2008. A short film was made for my product. We now have a studio to work in.

We still have a long way to go to make more products and to be more established with different business people and organizations. But I saw my dream come true and I will keep trying even harder.

-Willard Musarurwa (more…)

My wife and I recently traveled to Mamelodi, South Africa (30 minutes outside Pretoria) with 300 other volunteers from Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, OH. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since I had never been to Africa before, but I was very excited to experience the culture and develop relationships with the people there. I was amazed at the love, joy and hope that seemed to radiate from the townships despite the fact that most people we met were either unemployed (80%), had HIV/AIDS (40%) or did not know where their next meal would come from.

While we were there we built 10 homes, planted over 250 sustainable vegetable gardens, provided a library full of 7,000 donated books and had a children’s camp each day for over 1,000 kids! While all that is definitely an accomplishment, the most fulfilling part of our trip was the amazing friendships we developed with the South Africans. I was so encouraged by their ambition and hope for the future — something that we, as Americans, have in common.

While I was there I wore my ONE bracelet every day just like I have for the past 4 months since I got it. On my last day, I took my ONE bracelet off and gave it to an awesome kid named Kevin—who I developed a good relationship with and who seemed to like me as he was by my side every time I turned around.

The experiences I had in South Africa will last a lifetime and it has encouraged me to become more involved in the ONE Campaign and try harder to get other people involved to help make a positive difference in Africa. ONE can have a tremendous impact on people living in poverty and I believe it’s my responsibility to help support ONE’s efforts.

-Jake Armentrout, ONE Member, Cincinnati, OH