Two years ago, I raised money for people affected by AIDS in South Africa. I then went on to walk 75 miles over a period of 5 days in commitment to the cause. My trip ended by visiting AIDS patients and talking to them about their lives. It was a life-changing experience. One, which opened my eyes to the reality of life that most people in the world live with. What never left my mind was how privileged I was. That memory has motivated me every single day since.
It was out of that motivation that I started a small volunteer group called Climb For A Cause. The Climb For A Cause group pioneers a charity adventure each year. We choose a developing part of the world that needs help. We raise money to help them. Then, we go on to visit with the people affected -- we talk to them, we see them in their native setting, we learn of the reality they live in. We then go on to meditate what we learnt and tie it back to our lives. We meditate by challenging ourselves physically and emotionally on a mountain climbing activity.
Last year we raised $40,000 for the people and children of Bolivia. We met them and then went on to climb Macchu Picchu.
The Cause for 2004
This year I am going back to Africa. For several reasons, I have always been drawn to Africa. It’s where we all came from and yet it seems like such an easily forgotten land. The people of Africa need all the help they can get. When I took stalk of the state of the AIDS epidemic in the region; I realized that the situation is far worse than it was 2 years ago. AIDS continues to remain the leading issue facing the people of Africa; especially Southern Africa. What is worse is that the condition has deteriorated considerably for children and women. Some facts that indicate this are:
- There are 40 million people living with AIDS in the world. Of these 2.5 million are children. The epidemic has killed more than 3 million people in 2003, 500,000 of them were children. This amounts to approximately 1,400 children's deaths from AIDS per day.
- More than 95 percent of people with HIV live in the developing world. Southern Africa alone is home to about 30% of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, yet this region has less than 2% of the world’s population.
- Around half (58%) of all people living with HIV in the world are female. This rises to 64% of young women and girls in developing countries.
- More than 1 in 5 pregnant women are HIV-infected in Southern Africa. In some parts of Africa, more than 60% of women aged 15-49 do not know that HIV can be transmitted from a mother to her child.
- Approximately 2,000 children worldwide are infected with HIV each day. Over 90% of these children were infected through mother-to-child transmission.
- In industrialized nations, research and effective intervention have drastically reduced mother-to-child transmission of HIV to less than two percent. If we act now, thousands of children's lives in the developing world can be saved by using proven low-cost interventions.
The Organization
Several worldwide organizations are working relentlessly to fight AIDS. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is one such organization. I raised money for them during the AIDSTrek in 2002. I have been very please with their work and use of the money. They are rated A by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a charity watchdog organization. In the simplest terms, this means that over 75% of the money donated to Elizabeth Glaser reaches the people affected by the cause.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation helps children and families worldwide by eradicating pediatric AIDS, providing care and treatment to people with HIV/AIDS, and accelerating the discovery of new treatments for other serious and life-threatening pediatric illnesses. It does this by providing awards to outstanding scientists to conduct innovative research into pediatric HIV Vaccine. In an environment where scientific information is often viewed as proprietary, the Foundation has been extremely successful in encouraging scientists to work collaboratively. Outcomes are then put into action through critical programs. The Foundation also seeks to keep the public informed about developments in HIV/AIDS research to aid in grass-roots advocacy.
My Challenge
I have not set a specific goal for the amount of money I want to raise this year. I want to raise as much money as I possibly can. I have raised over $10,000 each of the last 2 years. This was possible due to the generous support from the people I know. Drop me a line if you would like to make a donation.
I am looking to raise all of the money by the end of November. Following the fundraising, in December, I will go to Southern Africa and visit an Elizabeth Glaser clinic. I will also be volunteering at a Doctors Without Borders clinic. Through these visits I am hoping to help HIV/AIDS patients in an even more real way. After the visits, I will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is my hope that when I stand atop the 18,000 ft. mountain, it will give me a perspective of the world that nothing else has ever before.
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