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AIDS Orphan UK Trust is a UK based international charity that aims to prevent and relieve the suffering, distress and sickness of children who have been orphaned, infected or otherwise affected by HIV/AIDS across Africa.

We believe that children have a basic human right to life and this means access to ARV’s, medical care and attention if they are HIV+ or suffering from AIDS. We also believe that HIV+ children have the right to education with the goal of lifting them out of the cycle of poverty.

Neema Rescue Centre, which MAD is supporting:

Kibera is the largest slum in Kenya and is home to 1 million people. It is estimated that 100,000 children living there are orphaned, in many cases by AIDS/HIV.

The Neema Rescue Centre, which is part of Little Rock School, provides a home for 29 children who have been orphaned by AIDS/HIV through the provision of food, clean water and adherence to anti retroviral medication. It seeks to support the children in establishing a permanent home, either with extended family or into a boarding school.

By providing a home to these very vulnerable children the Centre is supporting these children at a time of potential crisis in their lives and preventing a decline into extreme poverty and potentially death.

“Thanks to the Make a Difference Trust we are directly supporting children who have been orphaned by AIDS/HIV by funding the running costs of a rescue home for 29 of these children. As well as providing a stable home environment within one of the largest slums in the world (Kibera in Kenya) the children will also have access to the school, the feeding programme and the anti-retroviral drugs needed to keep them healthy.”

Kate  Akhtar – Trusts and Foundations, Aids Orphan UK Trust

Some facts about Kibera include:

Kibera is one of the most densely populated places on the planet

Life expectancy in Kibera is 30 years of age, compared to 50 years of age in the remainder of Kenya, compared to 67.2 years of age in the world.[United Nations: Life Expectancy, 2005 to 2010]

One out of five children do not live to see their 5th birthdays.

75% of the people in the slum are under the age of 18

There is no clean, running water in Kibera shacks. The people purchase water from private vendors, paying two to ten times what is paid by a Nairobi resident outside the slum.

Kibera’s 1 million residents share 600 toilets; a single toilet serves 1,300 people.

Violence is rampant in Kibera: women are routinely beaten, raped, or sold into prostitution; men and women are denied police protection, medical care, education, economic or political power.

66% of girls in Kibera routinely trade sex for food by the age of 16, and many begin at age 6; young women in Kibera contact HIV at a rate 5 times that of their male counterparts.

Only 41 percent of boys and 32 percent of girls know that condoms are effective in preventing HIV transmission; and only 8% of girls in Kibera have the chance to go to school.

Kibera’s children sniff a glue-like hallucinogenic solvent to reduce hunger pangs.

Thank you for The Make A Difference Trust’s three year grant to Ubuntu Pathways (formerly Ubuntu Education Fund) towards the Ubuntu After-School and Performing Arts Project. Over the past 18 years, Ubuntu has grown into a vital community institution that transforms the lives of South Africa’s most vulnerable children. Your generous support will ensure the continuation of our life-changing work, placing families on a pathway out of poverty.

Children growing up in Port Elizabeth’s townships face Odds that are stacked against them. However, at Ubuntu, we believe that a child’s life should not be left to chance. Our innovative development approach provides disadvantaged children with what all children need to thrive – everything. In this way, a girl without financial resources wins a scholarship, studies maths at university abroad, and returns to teach undergraduates in South Africa. Students form a robotics team to build award-winning technology; an unemployed young man trains to become a barista and aspires to open his own coffee shop.

After nearly two decades of working within our community, we have learnt that there is nothing more sustainable than investing in a child every day of her life. We recently launched a bold Strategic plan that will generate lasting change in Port Elizabeth – Vision 2020. Our five-year strategy will enhance our “cradle-to-career” programming, amplify the Ubuntu Model, and ensure long-term impact. This ambitious strategy will catalyse a self-sustaining cycle of development that empowers families to break complex patterns of poverty and Inequality. As we share our model, Ubuntu will serve as the global standard for community transformation in impoverished areas around the world.

The Ubuntu Centre, now part of the fabric of Zwide Township, hums With activity from the rooftop

garden to the theatre. Keyboards click in the computer room; delicious smells waft from the kitchen; a student runs excitedly into her classroom; fathers walk out of the clinic holding life-saving medicine.

Our mission is rooted in ubuntu a South African ethos that speaks to our common humanity – we are all connected to each other, and our Interactions define us. Thank you for believing in our vision and ensuring that Ubuntu’s children grow up with opportunities that every child deserves.

Beth Honig , Director, Friends of Ubuntu Education Fund, UK