KENWA - Kenya Network of Women With HIV/AIDS www.kenwa.org

KENWA has hundreds of children that cannot go to school. Because KENWA barely has money to feed them.

And these children desperately want to go to school. We need at least $200,000 to send them to school now. And we need at least $100,000 to feed them for even two more months.

Our grain is almost gone. That means that children will be going hungry soon. Please help.

These are wonderful loving children with no one else to turn to for loving care. Please help KENWA continue them on the path to future independence. By getting educated today. Education is the ULTIMATE weapon against HIV/AIDS.

Thank you for hearing our fervent plea.
Yours sincerely in service,
KENWA
Contact kenwa@realtime.net

* KENWA was featured in the VH1 documentary: Tracking the Monster: Ashley Judd and India.arie Confront AIDS in Africa. More on that here. http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/vh1_news_presents/93916/episode.jhtml
* KENWA's executive director, Asunta Wagura, is known as the Mother Teresa of Nairobi. Because at 44 years old, she has helped more poor people with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (now numbering more than 450,000) than Mother Teresa had helped poor people with leprosy in India at the same age. Bono says that AIDS is the leprosy of our generation.
* Asunta Wagura has had HIV/AIDS for 18 years. She knows how it feels to be turned away. When she was 22 and beginning her studies at Nairobi Medical School in Kenya, she was diagnosed as being HIV positive. Expelled from school and shunned by her family, she was left alone to die.

In 1993, she and four other HIV-positive women founded KENWA, a grassroots community-based organization with a humble mission: improve the quality of life for women with AIDS and their children. Now 13 years later, KENWA provides life-supporting services to 6951 people, including 1743 orphaned and vulnerable children.
* Asunta visited me in my home in Austin, Texas last summer. I took her to the Whole Foods here for lunch. As she gazed in amazement at all the offerings, I asked her what she thought of the store. She said, "I wish that I could bring all the children here (KENWA's 1743 orphans) so that they could eat all they wanted. When children go for so long without enough to eat, they get very depressed." I will never look at Whole Foods the same way again.
* KENWA is operated mostly by volunteers, mainly women with HIV/AIDS. Because KENWA has helped them recover, they want to help others do the same.

KENWA provides services to 7127 people, including 5384 with AIDS and 1743 orphaned and vulnerable children. It is committed to rise from its dependence on financial aid to become a self-sustaining model for AIDS-based organizations worldwide by 2010.

The world is weary of hearing about the problems and hopelessness of the AIDS crisis in Africa. It wants solutions. With KENWA's long history at the forefront of the battle against AIDS, it is uniquely positioned to attract the world's top innovators to mastermind solutions for managing and halting this epidemic.

First, we must rescue our orphans. Kenya is home to 1.8 million AIDS orphans, and it isn't much of a home. KENWA is committed to help this generation of children being raised by children. Orphans are living without water or electricity or toilet and cooking facilities. KENWA is firmly committed to ensuring that children are educated because education is the greatest weapon against AIDS.

In Africa, five times more women have AIDS than men. Uneducated, unemployed, and solely reliant on men, women are subjugated in ways that make them vulnerable to contracting AIDS. When their status is discovered, they're often shunned by their husbands and families to care for their children alone and without resources. With antiretroviral therapy, they're living longer. KENWA is committed to assist these women with nutritional, emotional, and medical support so they can live productive lives.

KENWA is committed also to provide women and older orphans with vocational training so they can become financially independent. Graduates of KENWA's sewing school will receive their own treadle sewing machine and enough sewing supplies to make five school uniforms. KENWA will buy these items at a reduced price so that graduates have seed money to buy supplies for more projects that they can sell. Each graduate will be required to teach three more people to sew. This is one of the ways that KENWA will become self-sustaining.

Millions of dollars in are available in grants designated for the fight against AIDS. KENWA will recruit grants writers to win those grants. It will use that money to hire the brightest innovators-engineers, architects, and experts in business, transportation, and agriculture-to devise methods to:

· Provide potable and affordable water to dwellings. 80% of illness is caused by contaminated water. (One company is already making water from air.)

· Help families provide their own food-grow crops and raise livestock within their communities.

· Provide toilets that don't require water or electricity (now available but costly).

· Provide housing for orphans without removing them from their communities. (Adapt shipping containers with water and electricity and toilet and cooking facilities and place them in the slums where our orphans live.)

· Educate all children no matter how ill, poor, or unkempt. Robots tend to Japan's elderly. Perhaps Negroponte's $100 computer can help orphans do their schoolwork and remind them to brush their teeth and go to bed. (It's not warm and fuzzy but it's better than missing school because they can't afford it.) Educated orphans have more choices and more self-esteem.

When this model is developed and replicated worldwide, money now slated for AIDS relief can be used to build infrastructure, medical clinics, and educational institutions. This is KENWA's mission-to become self-sustaining via innovation, education, and vocational training by 2010.

$100 will cover the cost of one of the following:
* Feed 3 orphans for a month.
* Support vocational training for an older orphan or woman with AIDS.

$500 will cover the cost of one of the following:
* Support 3 orphans in elementary and middle school for a semester.
* Support 7 orphans with AIDS for a month, including food, clothing, and ARV therapy.

$1,000 will cover the cost of one of the following:
* Pay school fees for 4 orphans in high school for a semester.
* Provide seed money to 15 women and older orphans for income-generating activities.

$2,500 will cover the cost of one of the following:
* Support ARV therapy for 62 orphans with AIDS for a month.
* Support vocational training for 25 older orphans and women.

$5,000 will cover the cost of one of the following:
* Support 30 orphans in elementary and middle school for a semester.
* Support ARV therapy for 125 orphans with AIDS for a month.

$10,000 will cover the cost of one of the following:
* Pay school fees for 40 orphans in high school for a semester.
* Operate a care center for a month, including food, fuel, and workers.

Today 6,500 Africans will die of AIDS and 110 million kids won't go to school. -Bono

Please give generously.

United Kingdom Taxpayers Making Donations
in United Kingdom Pounds

KENWA is a non-profit organization that has complied 100% with grant performance and accounting audits for thirteen years. That coupled with its sterling reputation in Kenya proves KENWA's complete reliability.

Save Africa's Children, founded by Denzel Washington and Bishop Charles Blake of West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, has generously offered to accept donations to KENWA without charge. Therefore, 100% of your donation goes directly to KENWA. Your donation is tax-deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code to the full extent allowable by law.

To make your donation with a debit or credit card (Visa, Discover, Diner's Club, Master Card, and American Express), call toll free at (866) 313-2722 or in Los Angeles call (323) 733-1048. Specify that your donation is for KENWA. Save Africa's Children will send you a receipt.

Please make your donation to KENWA today.

No amount is too small. Your $1 donation will feed a child for a day.

KENWA is different from most AIDS-based NGOs in many ways. Its first defining characteristic is that KENWA turns away no one, no matter how ill, no matter how poor. That is why it's the sole thread to survival for 6951 of the poorest of the poor that others have turned away.

KENWA is painfully aware of the needs of Kenya's 1.8 million children orphaned by AIDS. An entire generation of children is being raised by children and needs our assistance now. KENWA's second defining characteristic is its mission to ease orphans' suffering.

To 1743 of these children, KENWA is mother, provider, and protector. These innocents line up at KENWA for their daily porridge of grains and fish. KENWA gives them clothes, rents them rooms, and provides them with counseling to ease their heavy hearts. Most important, KENWA gives them love, something they've known far too little of.

KENWA's third defining characteristic is its innovative approach to managing AIDS. Last year, KENWA supported two percent of Kenya's population that were on antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. Now KENWA has even more-845-people on ARV therapy. (Most people said it couldn't be done.) KENWA's system of nutrition, education, and ARV therapy is setting the pace for the world.

KENWA's fourth defining characteristic is its focus on educational and vocational empowerment. What's hurt KENWA's collective heart most during this financial crisis has been taking its orphans out of school because of lack of funds for tuition. School is the only structure in their fractured lives and the greatest weapon against HIV/AIDS.

KENWA provides vocational training to women and older children heading households. It also provides them with seed money so they can sell sundries and become financially independent. Empowered women and children have more choices.

KENWA's fifth defining characteristic is its commitment to become self-sustaining by 2010. The world is weary of the horrendous problems of AIDS; it wants solutions. It's weary of the bottomless pit of need left by AIDS; it wants self-sustainability.

These five defining characteristics position KENWA uniquely to attract the world's innovators to solve the problems of AIDS and build a self-sustainable and replicable model for the world.

KENWA's executive director, Asunta Wagura, has helped almost half a million people with HIV/AIDS in the last thirteen years. She understands. She was diagnosed as HIV positive 18 years ago. These are her words...

Ruth's parent had died when she was very young. Her extended family had forced her to quit school to help scrape together her hand-to-mouth existence. When our community health workers found her, she was only nine, yet her innocence was long gone. Modeling her new school uniform from KENWA at our drop-in Center in Murang'a, Ruth, now 13, looked down shyly, "Auntie, I don't know where I would be without you." With KENWA's loving care, she will be graduating from primary school next year.

Aisha remembers, "When I was eleven, I went to live with my grandmother because my mother was ill with HIV. My father had left us to marry another woman. I was doing well in school and I enjoyed it. When my grandmother told me to trade sexual favors with men for our food, I ran away to live with my father. His new wife fed her children but not me. I was going hungry. My teacher took me to KENWA. When my father tried to make me leave there to marry an old man, my teachers intervened on my behalf. Now I live with my teacher and she is good to me. Although I have suffered, I am thankful that I now have people who care about me."

Joshua heard me tell visiting dignitaries that I might have to close KENWA's doors because of lack of funds. His mother had died a year earlier. Later I saw Joshua and his friends wearing long faces.

"What's wrong little man?" I tried to cheer him up.

"Auntie, is it true that the porridge flour is about to run out?" Fighting back tears he said. "Auntie, I'm afraid that I will die of starvation."

Some weekends Joshua has gone without food, but I promised myself long ago that no child under my care will die of starvation.

Mwajuma, 14 years old, says, "My father died when I was very young from AIDS. Six years later my mother died from the same thing. I shed tears remembering my mother and how she did her best to feed me. Then my auntie who was protecting me passed away too. I don't like to be called orphan. I want someone to call mommy like my friends call their mothers. As long as KENWA supports me, I will do my best to get my education and succeed."

God guides people in need. Adhiambo and Sarah, sisters aged 9 and 12 were orphaned only last month when their mother died of AIDS. Afraid of the graves in the e

And from our UK affiliates:

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Izabela Tolowinska: "I was born and raised in Kenya. My family moved to England when I was 13. Now having conducted clinical research on antiviral drugs for HIV/AIDS for over 10 years, I have seen how dramatically ARV therapy has improved people's lives.

In April 2005, I visited KENWA's drop-in centre in Korogocho, the worst slums in Nairobi. Despite the poverty, ill health, and lack of sanitation, people there were smiling and welcoming. We visited a lady who was terribly ill with AIDS. In impeccable English, she thanked me for visiting her. I felt small and helpless. That day I promised to help KENWA and the people of Kenya.

KENWA is well respected in Kenya. It faces crises daily, yet battles on. Its successes, overall set up, and members' commitment and dedication are impressive. Throughout our visit, they were incredibly hospitable with much singing and dancing. They have great respect for Asunta and are grateful to her for giving them given hope and a reason to live. That is why many of KENWA members are also volunteers.

KENWA needs more funding and income so that it can help even more people. My sister, Danusia, our friend Jack Lambert, and I are helping to start a UK fund for KENWA. We are honored to serve KENWA and our home land of Kenya."

Dr Jack Lambert: "I'm an infectious disease doctor now working as an infectious disease specialist at University College in Dublin, Ireland. I met Asunta Wagura in 2000 while working on a Glaxo Smith Kline project in Kenya. I'd steered clear of dealing with AIDS in Africa because of the corruption, politics, and difficulty in achieving results. When I saw what Asunta and her team was doing at KENWA, I committed to help them every way possible.

KENWA's organization is one of action as it struggles with discrimination, corruption, and poverty. At KENWA, the poorest of the poor, shunned by family and society, are now surviving well with HIV/AIDS. What impresses me most about KENWA is the strength of its people. Although their living conditions are absolutely nauseating-no sewage system, water supply, or decent housing, the KENWA men, women and children have pride and look great. I don't know how they do it.

I fundraise and collect used medicines for KENWA. Some people say it's a waste of time, because there are more than a million people infected with HIV in Kenya. If I can help even one or two KENWA families, and if others do the same, we can help all of them.