When we first met Anatolia she said that all she wanted was the freedom to live out the rest of her days in peace, raise her children and her animals in order to secure a bright future for her whole family. She has done just that and now will have enough money to pay for her children’s education. Like so many mothers, Anatolia wants the best for her children and for them to want for nothing. Anatolia is taking action to break the cycle of poverty and showing her children (and grandchildren) what empowerment looks and feels like.

In my previous blog, Project GRACE: Micro-enterprising to Achieve Self Reliance in Uganda, I shared a video and details about how our program is providing families like Anatolia’s with the tools to create, manage and profit from their own business. For thousands of these families the physical effects of HIV/AIDS and/or the stigma associated with it prevents the adults from being able to support their families.

Through Just Like My Child Foundation’s work with Bishop Asili Hospital, mothers and fathers are provided with the necessary treatment, and Project GRACE empowers them to become self-reliant: through micro-enterprise. Through a loan of poultry of livestock along with training, these impoverished families can create a self-sustaining business that gives them hope and pride.

Project GRACE is giving HIV families a second chance and a step up not a hand out. It brings me great joy to share Anatolia’s heartwarming success story that your funds to Project GRACE have made possible.

Thank you to those of you who continue to support our efforts with your donations.

$300 provides an entire family of 6 with a complete sustainable business. Invest TODAY in Just Like My Child and help us empower communities to achieve self-sustenance and break the cycle of poverty.

African women in their early 20s represent the largest group of the adult population infected with HIV. One of the causes is that their sexual partners refuse to wear condoms. This refusal is often a death sentence for the female partner. So how can infections be reduced among these women? Some might say that education is the key. The education exists, but often the women lack the power to influence their partner’s choices. African women have not had much control over the prevention of HIV, but now there is hope.

South African scientists released exciting results of a clinical trial that a new vaginal gel containing antiretroviral drugs offers women a strong level of protection and a greater degree of control against HIV infection.

Conducted in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province by Prof Salim Abdool Karim and his wife Quarraisha, the clinical trial results showed that using the gel reduced the risk of HIV infection by 39 per cent overall among women, but for those who used it most consistently the protection rate was 54 per cent. It is forecasted that over the next 20 years, the gel could prevent as many as 1.3 million new infections and 800,000 deaths in South Africa.

The scientists are working to conduct the third and final stage of the trial, which is estimated to take “a number of years” to complete.

The effectiveness of this protective gel is very encouraging news for the HIV epidemic in South African and for the opportunity for women to have more control over preventing the disease.

The reality of the situation is that although the study was done on a large portion of rural African women, the challenge throughout much of Africa, is that often there is a long delay between breakthroughs like this and its distribution throughout the rural communities where it is needed most.

As I’ve often said, the devil is in the details in Africa. We’ve had anti-retro-viral drugs to combat AIDS for years now, yet the education, investment, and distribution of the drugs is an intense process. It requires deep commitment on the part of the communities on the ground and the aid organizations which finance and distribute them. We need to commit ourselves to making these types of breakthroughs accessible not just in the urban areas. Yes, education is important, but often access for all is the key to the exciting results that are possible.

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, there is a stigma in Uganda surrounding families with HIV which results in joblessness and poverty. The more women who can prevent contracting HIV, the better their family’s chances to be self reliant.

For those families who have already contracted HIV, Just Like My Child Foundation along with the Bishop Asili Hospital is helping them become self-sufficient through a micro-enterprise program called Project Grace. To learn more about Project Grace, go to my previous post Project Grace: Achieving Self Reliance in Uganda (link) and watch the inspiring video.

For more details about the study, read the full article here.

Foundation for Women welcomes Just Like My Child Founder, Vivian Glyck

After about 30 hours of ridiculous travel, I found my host in Liberia, Deborah Lindholm, founder, Foundation for Women.

I was brought to meet a wonderful group of microcredit (small loan) recipents who welcomed me in true African style: jubilant dance and song.

I was immediately struck by how EMPOWERED the women are — they have a sense of their value, power, and contribution to their families that I’ve never seen. It made me SO happy to be here!

Microcredit creates miracles for war ravaged

Our first stop today was to visit a group of people who had been handicapped by the atrocities of the civil war. Many of the shops along the road sell crutches and wheel chairs to serve the people who have been mamed.

This group of injured people had been formally street beggars, but now are SO empowered due to the small businesses they are building as a result of microcredit.

The leader of the group, a woman who has had polio since she was a child has to hold her knee with every step she takes so that it stays straight and she can move forward. But the fire that came forth from her when she spoke to the group about not being defined by your handicap and proving society wrong about their judgement of your condition completely blew my mind. I’ve never seen such power coming from those who face such adversity.

200 children attend a one-room school while their mothers work

Next we visited another Foundation for Women program that helps women work in a marketplace.

We visited the school that their children attend while they are working.

Over 200 children crowd into one classroom grades K-6 and have one teacher who earns $20 per month to be there from 7 am to 4 pm.

It would take so little to fix this issue! And the kids are amazingly open and fun.

SHANTI UGANDA is a Vancouver based organization dedicated to helping children, women and communities in Uganda find peace and health. It is their belief that in order to overcome trauma and conflict within a community, we must first allow individuals to heal and uplift their minds, bodies and spirits. Their programs provide the tools needed to find inner peace and well-being, foster conscious birth and manifest health, happiness and community.  All Shanti Uganda projects combine healing, birth education and community development initiatives. Natalie Angell, founder of Shanti Uganda has been here at Bishop Asili for the last few days training a small group of HIV positive women on how to make paper bead necklaces. The women are to gather for five full days to learn the methods involved in cutting and measuring paper, rolling beads, varnishing beads, hanging them to dry and then finally making them into beautiful pieces of jewelry.

Natalie Angell and her counterpart Julius work together to train the women on the bead making process

Thirty women eagerly gather together in this round hut every day to learn and practice what they've been taught

The paper must first be measured and cut properly in order for it to be rolled into a perfect paper bead shape.

The paper is then rolled tightly around a needle. It takes a great deal of patients and practice in order to ensure that the outcome is a quality paper bead. The process is meticulous and challenging.

Natalie and Julius give the women constructive criticism for improved quality and praise to those beads that are well made.

The beads are placed on strings and covered with a clear varnish. Once they have dried they will be strung into lovely pieces of jewelry, which will be purchased from the women by Shanti Uganda

I stopped by the hut to greet the women and to see how things were coming along for Natalie and Julius. The women were all enthusiastically making beads and are all clearly enjoying their newly learned skill!! Each of them is walking a treacherous path in life that most of us cannot relate to. It’s such a joy to see a hint of hope in these women’ s eyes.

http://shantiuganda.blogspot.com

She is employed by the sisters at Bishop Asili Hospital. She has several children and an ex husband that doesn’t help her to take care of them. She recently became inspired to mobilize a group of four women together to work out a small micro-finance lending system. Every month they pool together 30,000 Ugandan shillings per person. They start out with two members of the group taking half of the money and then the following month the other two people take the money. This way they are able to have a larger pool of money to work with, so they can start a piggery or some other small project that will help them to generate income. Maria has also decided to open up a savings account for the first time in her life where she will put all of her extra money earned from tailoring work. She doesn’t want to be tempted to spend the money that she intends to use for her childrens’ schooling. She asked me to help her fill out the bank forms because her English isn’t fluent. I took a picture of her after signing her name. She was so proud! Another moment in Uganda that I won’t ever forget.