AAF News
Annual General Meeting
18/11/2009
The African Aids Foundation AGM took place on Wednesday 18th November this year. Of course there was lots of housekeeping as there should be but we also took this opportunity to hear from some of our Board Directors and Friends of AAF who recently took a trip to South Africa to see first hand the work that is being done over there. It was interesting to hear their perceptions and thoughts. Below is briefly what they shared.
David and Yvonne were surprised at the extreme between poverty and wealth which they were confronted with daily. They spoke about how AAF really does make a difference in the lives of individuals. They were encouraged by how the local community help each other enthusiastically. David and Yvonne agreed that they were privileged to have had the opportunity to make the journey.
Bruce also found the contrast between poverty (malnutrition) and wealth confronting. He commented that change can only come about through the children and that is why the work that AAF is supporting is just so important. Bruce said that he realises that there are big problems there and was at times ready to give up hope but meeting the individuals that AAF's support has helped, made him realise that it is not about solving all the problems, just helping one person at a time. He said that it was important to help sufferers of AIDS to help prolong their lives so that there are not so many orphans. The Happy Day Academy in Kenya particularly made an impression on Bruce.
Eddie had an interesting story to tell as he had a whole different experience. Eddie was not a Board Director at the time of his trip although he became a Director on his return. Eddie went on a 4 month 'holiday' to South Africa as a volunteer. His mission was to gather what he needed to make an application for AAF to become tax deductible. Eddie spent most of his time in Bergeville (also known as the gateway to the Northern Drakensburg - Northwest of Durban, Kwazulu Natal). He said that since he was there for 4 months - he felt like he was living there so was not so confronted by the poverty / wealth contrast. In the first 2 weeks he was there, he attended 3 funerals in Ladysmith - one of which lasted 3 hours. It was an experience for Eddie, not only the tragedy of the three funerals but also the culture / tradition in which they occurred. He was told that you would know there was a funeral by the presence of a white tent-type structure near the house. The amount and beauty of the singing was impressive. Eddie was saddened to realise that it is rare to see a grave of a person who was older than 40 years old - most were 20 - 30 years old - the young are dying, including the much needed teachers. Eddie found Kenya confronting - people who had nothing working 6 days a week helping people who had less.
Sharon, having been on the Board for 3 years, said she thought she knew what it was like in Africa and the work AAF was supporting but when she went there she realised she did not - the extreme poverty, the extent of the poverty and suffering was more than she ever could have imagined. Sharon said that the experience has had a major effect on her own life here in Australia. She was impressed how the people there looked after their own community, even if they were sick. She thinks the Life Skills Workshop is a very positive project which AAF supports, giving orphans a bed and 3 meals a day for the weekend, showing them self worth and that they have a purpose in life. Sharon was impressed with the home-based carers - women looking after the sick and dying, walking miles across the country-side for nothing (no compensation).
'So many people are willing to help but they just need our support.'There are child-headed households where children are looking after themselves. In one house we visited there were mounds of dirt outside the door, which these children passed every day - these were their buried parents and grandparents - a continuous reminder of their loss.
AAF Dinner raises over $25,000 for Africa
7/11/2009
The AAF Annual Fundraising Dinner was held on Saturday 7th November at the Camden Civic Centre. Over 400 people attended on the night, with great entertainment from drumming band In Rhythm. There was a silent auction as well as a very entertaining live auction - all items were kindly donated by people and businesses in our community. Over $25,000 was raised on the night - every dollar of which will be sent to Africa. A big thank you for your support at this event - for all donations received, people who attended the dinner, people who generously made purchases at the auctions and to all those who helped put the night together. We have a few photos from the night - click on the images below.Tim's Diary - Sunday 7th June 2009
26/10/2009
As I write this diary I am listening to two little boys telling each other stories. Dan and Bailey are in bed together in a bed and breakfast cottage in a place called Bergville. Bailey has just confessed his love for Dan and told him to have a lovely sleep and he will see him in the morning.
Bergville is in South Africa about 300kms south of Johannesburg. We are here because Renee has come to teach maths at an all black primary school for 2 weeks. It's a long story, but her doctor used to live in South Africa for 10 years and his practice was in the Bergville area. Since returning home he founded the African Aids Foundation. For a decade he has been trying to turn the tide on the aids pandemic in Africa.
Through his charity, Dr Schwarz has been helping Intumbane Primary School by raising funds in Australia. He has encouraged St Peter's Primary School in Campbelltown to become a sister school. The school and its children have raised money to buy computers and books for the African children to use. He knows that Renee has been to Africa before and that she loves African children. She thinks they are all beautiful. Dr Schwarz is a Good Samaritan and a very good talker.
We arrived in South Africa on Saturday 6th of June 2009 at around 4pm. It was a 13-hour flight so we were very tired. The time passed pretty quickly because you can watch movies non-stop or play video games. I watched at least 4 movies including seeing "Australia" for the second time.
The boys were both angels this time. Dan has had a reputation for playing up since we flew to Korea. This time we kept him off the orange juice, which we now know is full of sugar. We flew South African Airlines but the plane was Qantas, staffed by South Africans. When we arrived at Johannesburg Airport, we picked up a hire car from Europcar. They couldn't find the GPS or our travel documents so we sat around for at least an hour while Renee rang our travel agent to find out what happened. In the end we got our car and drove to our hotel, Garden Court, which was only 2kms away. In Australian time it's now about 2am so we are exhausted.
We have a quick dinner in the hotel restaurant and go to bed. At 3am South African time, we all wake up and watch cartoons. It's Sunday and the hotel restaurant doesn't open til 7:30am. We are all starving having been awake for so long. Renee is in a feeding frenzy, she begins with healthy yoghurt and muesli but things turn greasy and ugly after that. She eats half a pig and then a croissant with jam. Dan's not far behind with 4 bowls of cornflakes mixed with rice bubbles. He had 4 weet-bix for breakfast during the week so he's in form. Bailey has one bowl of cornflakes and a croissant and he's happy. I have 4 pieces of toast with Marmite. It's got the texture of glue but tastes the same as the Aussie made product.
Our travel agent rings to tell us that our paperwork is still lost but she has located our GPS navigator. We decide to go back to the airport to pick it up. Renee picks up the navigator and then by chance calls into Europcar. They have found our paperwork so now we can continue on our trip.
We have never used a GPS system before but friends from Sydney have said we must have one. It's a disaster; the bloody thing sends us about 50kms east of Johannesburg when we are supposed to go south. It costs us at least an hour. We go back to using a map and Renee gets us back on track.
Eventually we discover that it's just a flat battery that caused us all the problems. We plug it into our cigarette lighter and it starts telling us to go in the right direction. We have been warned to remove the GPS from the window whenever we park. They even told us to remove the suction mark from the window because the robbers go looking for this so they know which cars to break into. GPS are worth more than mobile phones so they are hot property.
As we travel down the N3 towards Harrismith we keep looking into the vast grass paddocks for animals. The first animal spotted was a squashed rat at the airport. Our next sighting was 2 Jack Russell dogs chasing a rabbit into a shrub on the highway. Renee sees a couple of ostriches. It is obviously no different to Australia in that you have to get far away from the cities before you see animals. Apart from the rat the only other road kill was a very flat fox.
What has been interesting is seeing the africans waiting on the side of the road for a lift. These Toyota vans pick them up and they are full of black faces. I've been warned to watch out for these vans because their drivers don't obey road rules and they are often not roadworthy. We did see one go through a red light.
It's also amazing how far the africans walk. Today was Sunday so most would be going to church. They are all well dressed. We often saw older men wearing suits as they walked along the highway. The africans live in villages in tiny houses no bigger than a single garage. We would often see these beautifully dressed people walking across the paddocks.
At 4pm we arrive in Bergville. It's a small town that is littered with rubbish. Until now I have been so impressed with how clean the roads have been. Anthony's Bed and Breakfast Home Stay is on the edge of Bergville. It's called Anthony's but we have only met Carol so far and she is very nice. Our accommodation is like a granny flat out the back. It's nothing fancy but it has a garden - which we quickly explore. The owner, Carol has 3 big pecan nut trees in the yard that are covered with nuts. They are ripe and hundreds are on the ground. The boys and I pick up a few and go into a feeding frenzy. I have just planted 3 pecan nut trees at home so I am excited to see the boys love eating them too. Carol says we can eat as many as we like.Carol has an older garden that could use a little TLC. She also has 2 big dogs and a cat which she lets go inside the house. One dog looks like Renee's mum's dog called Lucy. The boys start calling her Lucy immediately. The other dog is as big as a wolf. I don't like seeing dogs in houses especially when they are so smelly and dirty.We have dinner at night in Carol's house. Roast chicken and vegetables. Carol is a Christian so before we started eating she said a prayer thanking God for helping us arrive safely. Half way through her prayer I could hear Bailey scooping up peas with his spoon. The stare of death across the table saw him get this huge grin on his face. It's our first prayer together as a family.
Carol tells us not to worry about locking our room. She tells us she leaves her house unlocked all night. She does have a dog the size of a wolf. I do notice however in our room a sign which says "Anthony's Guest House nor any of its employees accepts any liability for any loss, injury or damage sustained by any person, car or goods in or around the premises".
We noticed all the houses in Johannesburg had huge fences around the boundaries. They also had barbed wire and many had electric fences.
