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Recognizing Obstetric Fistula So We Can Eliminate It Once and For All
May 23, 2013
Fistula surgery patient in West Africa. Credit: Worldwide Fistula Fund.
Can you imagine a pregnant woman you know going into labor, experiencing an unexpected obstruction, and having no medical personnel to help? If she survived, she would, no doubt, have internal tearing that would leave her leaking urine and waste. It’s called obstetric fistula.
Luckily for women in the U.S. and other developed countries, obstetric fistula was eliminated at the end of the 19th century. But in developing countries, particularly in Africa, it is an everyday occurrence affecting more than two million women who live with obstetric fistula. Fistula persists where women lack access to medical care and where malnutrition rates are high; poor nutrition leads to complications in childbirth.
Can we eliminate fistula? Many think we can. The United Nations has designated May 23 as the first-ever International Day to End Obstetric Fistula. This follows a decade-long campaign within the organization that has made real progress on ending the condition.
The Campaign to End Fistula united more than 80 global organizations, including The Fistula Foundation, Worldwide Fistula Fund, and Family Care International—all Aid for Africa members–to prevent, treat and rehabilitate many thousands of fistula survivors throughout the world.
Will the African Rhino Share the Fate of the African Elephant?
May 3, 2013
Most people don’t think they are as beautiful as elephants, and they don’t have ivory tusks, but rhinos, with their distinctive horns, are one of Africa’s wonders that now may share the fate of African elephants. The market for rhino horns, which are illegally sold at a price that rivals gold, ounce for ounce, is [...]
Women in Africa “Lean In,” Taking a Page from Sheryl Sandberg’s Book
April 24, 2013
With the recent launch of Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, discussion of the value of women in the workforce has blossomed. It’s clear women make great entrepreneurs—something the women of Africa have known for centuries but is often overlooked. Sandberg encourages women to realize their potential in the [...]
Aid for Africa Girls Education Fund Spotlight–Phoebe Amoako
March 29, 2013
Phoebe Amoako– A Passion for Education Realized Phoebe Amoako grew up in Tema, Ghana, a port city in the southeast of the West African country. One of three children raised by a single mother, Phoebe has always had a passion for learning. In her early school years it was for math and geography. After [...]
The Challenge of Providing Clean Water in Rural Africa
March 22, 2013
Every two years the World Health Organization takes a look at access to improved drinking water around the world. The good news is that an additional 2 billion people gained access to improved water between 1990 and 2010, including 273 million in Sub Saharan Africa. The bad news is that some 780 million people have [...]
Celebrating International Women’s Day—Recognizing the Role of Women Every Day
March 8, 2013
Every March 8th, International Women’s Day, we acknowledge the struggles and successes that women encounter worldwide. This year’s theme focuses on violence against women, which takes many forms—physical, sexual, psychological and economic—all constituting violations of fundamental rights and human dignity. As in other regions of the developing world, African customs and traditions, poverty, and a [...]
Will Africa’s Forest Elephant Share the Fate of Its Savannah Elephant—Extinction by Poaching?
March 6, 2013
At current rates of loss, the forest elephant of Central and West Africa is facing extinction. Scientists have just released new research that documents a 62 percent decline in the forest elephant population of Central and West Africa. The research adds to the evidence that the end may be near for the African elephant in [...]
Will African Elephants Be Extinct in Ten Years?
February 28, 2013
If you watched the National Geographic special Battle for the Elephants on PBS last night, you’re probably concerned about the fate of one of Africa’s greatest natural treasures—and with good reason. Last year was devastating for elephants across Africa, with poaching-related deaths estimated to be at least 25,000. A rate that some experts say, if [...]
New Test May Signal the End for a Biblical Disease
February 20, 2013
It’s a disease associated with Biblical times—leprosy. But even today, leprosy affects 3 to 4 million people around the world, many in Africa. Some 250,000 people contract the disease each year. Aid for Africa member American Leprosy Missions is the oldest and largest organization working to eradicate the disease and to support those who live [...]
Despite Conflict in Northern Mali,Village Needs Are Met by Aid for Africa Charity
February 8, 2013
Recently, the African country of Mali has made international headlines as French and Malian forces seek to oust Islamist rebels from the northern part of the country. The conflict in the north has disrupted economic development projects throughout the country, including for Aid for Africa member Medicine for Mali, which works in Mali’s southwest. [...]
Rehabilitation Center in Central Africa Gives Traumatized Children a Chance
January 30, 2013
The plight of child soldiers and children affected by conflict remains a major concern throughout Africa. Even reports from the recent fighting in Mali highlight how children have been forced to join the conflict. But nowhere has the problem been greater than in northern Uganda, ever since Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) [...]
Improving Cook Stoves Helps Combat Global Climate Change
January 18, 2013
If you have traveled in rural Africa, you’ve seen smoke coming from the small houses and back yards of most families. In fact, it is not uncommon to see wood fires and stoves used throughout cities as well. Cooking with wood as fuel contributes to family health problems, particularly for women and children. Cooking with [...]
Despite National Problems, Innovative Approaches to Education Provide Poor Children a Chance in South Africa
January 9, 2013
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Robin Dixon says that the educational system in South Africa has improved little for the nation’s poor black students in the 18 years since the end of apartheid. Recently, a national assessment of 7 million students showed that ninth-graders received an average mark of 13 percent for math. Last [...]
Remembering a Leader of Legal Justice in South Africa
December 18, 2012
The cause of social justice in Africa lost one of its giants this month with the death of Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson. Born and educated in South Africa, Chaskalson, 81, fought for the rights of black South Africans through the courts during apartheid. He was a part of the legal defense team that successfully defended [...]
Africa’s Lions in Steep Decline
December 8, 2012A surprising new study released this week finds that Africa is losing its lions, fast. The lion population in Africa declined from 100,000 to about 32,000 over the last 50 years, according the Duke University researchers who conducted the study. It finds that 6,000 lions face a high risk of extinction and that the lions [...]
Ending AIDS Begins with Africa
December 1, 2012Can AIDS be eliminated in our lifetime? US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thinks so. Just in time for World AIDS Day, December 1, Secretary Clinton has unveiled a blueprint for creating an AIDS-free generation. Its success depends largely on achievements in Sub Saharan Africa, which has two-thirds of the world’s 34 million people living [...]
Endangered Speedster of the African Wild
November 13, 2012They’re beautiful, they go from zero to 60 miles an hour in three seconds, and they’re endangered. Cheetahs—the race cars of the wild—have declined since 1900 from more than 100,000 in Africa and Asia to a mere 10,000 today, according to an article in the November issue of National Geographic. Two reasons for the decline [...]
Tackling Blindness in South Sudan–Preserving and Restoring Sight
November 5, 2012In Africa, loss of sight not only means a life of darkness. For many adults it means a loss of income and the ability to work, requiring dependence on family members and reducing a family’s overall productivity. Currently more than three million African children under the age of five are blind and an estimated 43 [...]
Today is A Day to Recognize Girls
October 11, 2012A global campaign to support the empowerment of girls has led to the United Nations designating October 11th as the very first International Day of the Girl. Aid for Africa and its members applaud this effort and support girls throughout Sub Saharan Africa through programs focusing on social justice, education, health, and economic empowerment of [...]
Extending Compassionate Health Care Delivery in Africa
September 28, 2012In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, George W. Bush described the advances made in recent years in Sub Saharan Africa in HIV and AIDS treatment. He noted that some 6.2 million people in the region take the drugs needed to keep the HIV virus at bay. According to the former President, the health [...]
Building Literacy–Libraries are Changing Lives in Africa
September 7, 2012Imagine you picked up a book and couldn’t read the words, went to take a medication but couldn’t read the instructions, or visited a new city and couldn’t read the street signs. According to the United Nations, globally, one in five adults cannot read; in Sub Saharan Africa two in five adults are illiterate and [...]
Aid for Africa Scholar Helps Improve Nutrition in Northern Tanzania
August 20, 2012As the summer draws to a close, Katrina Brink, the first Aid for Africa Scholar supported through the Aid for Africa Endowment for Food and Sustainable Agriculture at the Friedman School at Tufts University, is wrapping up her work to improve nutrition in northern Tanzania though gardening and poultry farming. Brink, a master’s student at [...]
Ritah’s Story– Defeating Adversity through Education, Fighting HIV/AIDs by Giving Back
July 29, 2012As the 19th International AIDS Conference ended this week, the delegates packed up, said their goodbyes and caught jets back to their home countries. One of those delegates was Ritah Namwiza, who recently completed a nine-month training program with UNAIDS—the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS—in Geneva. Ritah went back to Kampala, Uganda, where she [...]
Ending the Transmission of the AIDS Virus from Mother to Child—It Just Might be Possible
July 20, 2012In the United States and Europe, every day one child is born with HIV. In Africa, every day 1,000 children are born with HIV. mothers2mothers is changing that. mothers2mothers (m2m), an Aid for Africa member, was born in a clinic in South Africa in 2001. There a HIV-positive woman explained to another young woman with [...]
The Cradle Project—A Reminder of the 12 Million African Children Affected by AIDS
July 13, 2012As thousands of delegates to the 19th International AIDS Conference gather in Washington, DC, later this month to review progress made in the fight against HIV and AIDS around the world, Aid for Africa and its member organization Firelight Foundation will ask them to remember the children of Africa orphaned by AIDS. This reminder will [...]
Elise Warga–Turning the Tide on AIDS in Togo
July 8, 2012For three decades, scientists, policymakers and nonprofit leaders have worked to end to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Less known, but as important, are individuals who live with the disease and are changing the way their communities fight and live with the disease. Take, for example, Elise Warga a native of Togo, West Africa. Elise is [...]
Landscape Approaches Ease Conflicts and Promote Sustainable Development
June 29, 2012Farmers versus environmentalists. Rural food alliances versus tourism. Ranchers versus private industry. Can we build alliances between them in Africa to increase food production? Boost rural incomes? Restore degraded land and rivers? Aid for Africa member EcoAgriculture Partners, says, “Yes, we can.” EcoAgriculture Partners is part of Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative, a [...]
Wolves, Okapis, and Painted Dogs – Oh my!
June 6, 2012African wildlife often conjures images of rhinos, zebras, or elephants. But there are hundreds of animal species that call Africa home. For instance, did you know that wolves are native to parts of Africa? Or that the okapi is a relative of the giraffe, but has the stripes of a zebra? As we observe World Environment [...]
Aid for Africa Girls Education Fund Spotlight–Catherine Koyiah
May 30, 2012Catherine Koyiah, College Sophomore: Beating the Odds Each year in Sub Saharan Africa, millions of girls fail to reach their potential. Barriers to education are often to blame. These barriers include the fees and costs of supplies needed to attend school. Although low when compared to costs in the United States, they are high when [...]
“Lost Boys” Clinic in South Sudan Celebrates Five Years of Health Care
May 23, 2012If you have been following the news from South Sudan you know this new nation confronts many challenges, including threats of renewed warfare, extreme poverty, and a shortage of government services. But there are reasons for optimism, thanks, in part, to organizations like the John Dau Foundation, an Aid for Africa member. It took five [...]
Keeping Population Growth in Check: How a High School Education Changes Everything
May 4, 2012The benefits of educating a girl in Africa are many—learning to read, write, and do simple math in primary (elementary) school are the first steps to better health, future employment, and improved self esteem. Many African countries have made progress in closing the gap between girls and boys in school. In Kenya, almost half of [...]
Earth Day—Uniting Voices Worldwide for a Sustainable Future
April 21, 2012Did you know that on April 22, 1970—the first Earth Day—20 million Americans demonstrated from coast to coast in the United States to call for a healthy, sustainable environment? For many, it marked the beginning of the environmental movement. The brainchild of Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, who was concerned about mainstream [...]
Will Technology Feed a Warming World?
April 18, 2012A recent blog noted that climate change will negatively affect African agriculture, particularly production of the most important staple crops– millet, cassava, rice (West Africa), maize, bananas and plantains. More than 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is also threatened. As the earth warms, weather patterns shift, causing droughts and floods that threaten agriculture. Scientists [...]
World Health Day: How Can Sub Saharan Africa Have 25 Percent of the Disease Burden But Only 3 Percent of the World’s Trained Health Workers?
April 6, 2012On World Health Day, April 7, think about this: Sub Saharan Africa has 11 percent of the world’s population, bears 25 percent of the disease burden in the world, but has only 3 percent of the world’s trained health workers. Sub Saharan Africa has about 18 medical doctors for every 100,000 individuals. The United States [...]
World Water Day: Imagine if You Woke Up Tomorrow and No Water Flowed from Your Taps
March 22, 2012Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and no water flowed from your taps. How far would you have to walk to get to the nearest fresh water source? How long would it take you? And what things could you have done during that time if you didn’t have to devote it to your very survival? [...]
Empowering Development through Bicycles, World Bicycle Relief Reaches Half a Million People
March 16, 2012What is black, shiny, holds up to 200 pounds, is easy to repair, and transforms lives? A bicycle designed and built for Africa by World Bicycle Relief! The Aid for Africa member has just put its 100,000th bike to work in Africa. What can 100,000 bicycles do? Transform 500,000 lives. In the hands of students, [...]
International Women’s Day 2012: Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures
March 8, 2012March 8 marks International Women’s Day, when the world recognizes the achievements of women and the progress that still needs to be made. This year’s theme is Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures, which serves as the guiding principle for many of Aid for Africa’s members. In Sub Saharan Africa, the role of women in all aspects [...]
Jumpstarting Africa’s Small Businesses
February 29, 2012In 2009, the proportion of people in Sub Saharan Africa living on less than $1.25 a day was just below 50 percent – the highest of any region in the world. For an individual lacking a formal education and living in a rural area in Africa with little infrastructure to provide access to outside employment, [...]
Singing the Praises of Wildlife Conservation
February 22, 2012Aid for Africa does not often enough sing the praises of its members who are working to conserve wildlife in Sub Saharan Africa. But, as you are about to read, Isaac Munene actually does sing about the good work of Aid for Africa member Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Aid for Africa’s members working on wildlife conservation [...]
Celebrating the Love, with Thanks
February 16, 2012In celebration of Valentine’s Day this week, all of us associated with Aid for Africa send our love and gratitude to our supporters, whose generosity with their time and money has helped improve the lives of children, families, and communities all across Sub Saharan Africa. You have made a tremendous difference. Thank you! A number [...]
A Valentine to You from Africa
February 9, 2012For many, Valentine’s Day is synonymous with chocolate— a product of the cacao tree. Almost 70 percent of the world’s cocoa comes from Ghana, Ivory Coast and a few other West African countries. Along with coffee and cotton, cacao is one of Africa’s most important commercial crops. Because cacao is a critical crop to farmers [...]
Trash is Not Trash Until It Is Wasted
January 26, 2012Many of us recycle our bottles and waste without ever seeing the tangible benefits. Although recycling is practiced far less commonly in Sub Sahara Africa, the recycling efforts of two Aid for Africa members are having profound effects on the communities they serve. In the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Aid for Africa member Carolina [...]
Turning the Millennium Goals into Reality: Goal 6—Combat HIV, Malaria, and Other Diseases
January 13, 2012In the sixth blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases. The targets of the goal are by 2015 to begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and to halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other [...]
Looking to a Brighter Future in Africa
January 3, 2012When thinking about Africa, the facts that come to mind are often not good. Most Africans live on less than $2 a day. The average life span in many countries is only 50 years. Famine and starvation persist. The list goes on and on. In an article at the end of last year, The Economist [...]
Can we save Africa’s lions and other big cats from extinction?
December 16, 2011Panthera vice president George Schaller laments the demise of big cats in the December issue of National Geographic and asks if we as a people have the will to save them. “Conservation is politics, and politics is killing the big cats,” Schaller writes. Since 1970, several factors have caused the numbers of these large predators [...]
Fulfilling the Principles of Human Rights Day
December 10, 2011It is hard to believe that 63 years ago today, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration has served as the foundation for an ever-expanding system of rights and protections for the world’s citizens, including the vulnerable, disabled, and downtrodden. Reading this 63-year-old document in 2011, it is amazing to [...]
Drilling for Water in Africa’s Most Remote Regions
December 5, 2011They did it! World Hope International recently dug its 700th well and achieved its goal of providing 500,000 people in Sub Saharan Africa with clean water! World Hope and its partners in the Himutwe Wamalale district of Zambia dug well 700 in support of 273 people. Reaching this milestone is even more significant because providing [...]
Recognizing Progress, Committing to the Future on World AIDS Day
December 1, 2011On World AIDS Day, our attention turns again to Sub-Saharan Africa, which has only one-tenth of the world’s population, but two-thirds of the people in the world living with HIV and AIDS. In its 2010 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS states that more than 22 million people in the region have HIV/AIDS. The [...]
Overcoming Barriers to Graduating from High School
November 15, 2011In Kenya, where three quarters of all high school students never graduate, Aid for Africa member Kenya Education Fund (KEF) helps disadvantaged students beat the odds. There are a number of reasons so many students do not finish, but most are linked to poverty. In Kenya, where all public high schools are boarding schools, the [...]
Remembering a Legacy of Planting Trees and Building Lives
November 4, 2011In our previous blog post on the 2011 International Year of the Forest we highlighted the importance of forests in Africa, which account for the livelihoods of more than half of Africa’s population according to experts. Trees for the Future (TREES) has been instrumental in maintaining this synergy by helping people living on degraded land [...]
Turning the Millennium Goals Into Reality: Goal 5 – Improve Maternal Health
October 24, 2011In the fifth blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 5: Improve maternal health. The UN goal is to ensure that by 2015 there is universal access to reproductive healthcare and to reduce by three quarters the number of women dying from childbirth by 2015. In [...]
New Digital Technology Hunts Down War Criminal and His Army in Central Africa
October 10, 2011Communities across Central Africa are now better equipped to prevent and respond to atrocities committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) thanks to Aid for Africa member Invisible Children, which brought the atrocities of the LRA in Uganda to the world through film, and now uses a new technology to track the Army’s movements. The [...]
Community-Based Conservation Efforts to Protect Wildlife
September 22, 2011Tomorrow, September 22, is World Rhino Day, when international attention is raised about the senseless slaughter of these amazing animals due to the mythical belief held by many that rhino horn contains magical healing properties.
Eliminating the Obstacles Keeping African Children Out of School
September 14, 2011This September throughout the United States, school-age children picked up their books and lunch money and headed off to school. They look forward to doing that every year through their time in high school and, for many, through college. Children of Africa are not so fortunate. Of the 68 million children worldwide not enrolled in [...]
Education on Overdrive—Creating Sustainable Schools
August 26, 2011In Uganda and Tanzania, students supported by Aid for Africa members are learning more than reading, science, and math. They are learning how to make their schools sustainable. For the last three years in Rakai, Uganda, students and teachers at the Sabina School, an elementary boarding school supported by Aid for Africa member Children of [...]
Turning the Millennium Goals into Reality: Goal 4—Reduce Child Mortality
August 15, 2011In the fourth blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality. The UN goal is to reduce child mortality by two thirds between 2009 and 2015.
Fighting East African Famine Requires both Immediate and Long-term Solutions
August 1, 2011Food aid has begun to reach people in East Africa who are severely afflicted by the worst drought in 60 years. This emergency food aid is vital to prevent thousands more deaths in Somalia and to support the refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia that are now home to hundreds of thousands. But longer-term, structural [...]
Elephant Poaching on the Rise Again: Kenyan Government Burns Ivory to Raise Awareness
July 22, 2011The Kenyan Government burned five tons of elephant ivory worth $16 million July 20 to alert the world to a recent surge in elephant deaths from poaching.
Africa’s Newest Country – The Republic of South Sudan
July 11, 2011On July 9 the world welcomed its newest country and the 54th in Africa—the Republic of South Sudan.
Turning the Millennium Development Goals Into Reality: Part 2
June 8, 2011In the second blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 2: Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere are able to complete a full course of primary schooling. The World Bank estimates that there are 115 million children not attending school worldwide — 43 million of them [...]
Zeroing in on Farming in Africa as a Key to Long-Term Development
June 1, 2011At a recent meeting of the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs, Bill Gates spoke of a new effort to help the farmers of Africa and South Asia build better lives for their families. Telling the story of a Rwandan farmer, who is also a single mother of two, Gates described her 20-year struggle to feed [...]
Turning the Millennium Development Goals Into Reality
May 19, 2011Did you know that the Millennium Development Goals are the most ambitious, targeted, and comprehensive set of objectives ever created to eradicate extreme poverty? Established by the United Nations in the year 2000, they set eight specific targets that all world governments agreed to meet by 2015. They are: Cut extreme poverty and hunger by [...]
Fostering Development from within a Community—The Value of Small Nonprofits
May 13, 2011Most people who view the Kibera slum of 1 million–with its burgeoning youth population–on the outskirts of Nairobi see a powder keg waiting to explode. A few others, like Rye Barcott, see a place of possibility and untapped potential. Barcott, the founder of Carolina for Kibera and author of It Happened on the Way to [...]
Remembering Less Fortunate Mothers
May 6, 2011Being a mother is never easy, but in Africa it takes on a whole new dimension. Save the Children’s new report on the best and worst countries for motherhood says that eight out of the ten worst countries for mothers are in Sub Saharan Africa. It is not surprising when you consider that one in [...]
Great Ape Trust Recognized for its Research Efforts with Bonobos and Chimpanzees
April 29, 2011Aid for Africa member Great Ape Trust has two reasons to celebrate. In Iowa, the Trust’s Sue Savage-Rumbaugh was named one of the TIME 100 for 2011 for her work with bonobos. In Rwanda, the government reaffirmed its partnership with the Trust to save the Gishwati Forest, also known as the Forest of Hope, which [...]
“Greening” Africa
April 21, 2011Aid for Africa members work to “green” Africa on Earth Day and every day. Sub Saharan Africa is rich in natural resources and the region has great potential for renewable energy. Yet, climate change, deforestation, and environmental pollution pose a serious threat to its future. Solar solutions to energy use, habitat restoration, and clean water [...]
Providing Hope to Ivorian Refugees in Liberia
April 15, 2011The conflict in the Ivory Coast has led to the fleeing of more than 80,000 Ivorian refugees to its neighbor Liberia. In the midst of this humanitarian disaster Aid for Africa member Africa Development Corps, also known as Visions in Action, is overcoming enormous obstacles to restore the refugees’ dignity and hope. Many of the [...]
Doctors and Health Workers Answering the Call in Sub Saharan Africa
April 4, 2011In a recent compelling article in The New York Times, Celia Dugger describes a growing movement in the U.S. of young American doctors and health workers who are going to Africa to help heal sick and dying men, women, and children. Describing a “surging interest” among Americans drawn to Africa to try and do something [...]
Focus on Women: Realizing a Girl’s Potential and Fulfilling her Aspirations through Education
March 30, 2011When Ann Musabe was 16 years old she was in high school in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and in need of support. She found that support through Aid for Africa member Growth Through Learning. The organization provided a scholarship that allowed Ann to attend the St. Joseph’s Girls Secondary School, where she excelled. That [...]
World Water Day: Spotlight on Saving Lives with Safe Drinking Water
March 21, 2011On March 22, World Water Day, Aid for Africa asks you to remember that there are 1.1 billion people in the world who lack access to safe drinking water – one-third of whom live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Unsafe drinking water kills 6,000 people – mostly children – each day and causes more deaths annually than [...]
Focus on Women: Changing a Young Woman’s Story through Education
March 18, 2011Caroline Kashinin Senteu is one of only a handful of Maasai women in Kenya with a college education, and although her story began as the story of most Maasai women, Caroline’s determination to get an education gives it a different ending. Caroline was born in 1985 in Loitokitok, Kenya, to illiterate and very poor parents [...]
Focus on Women: Ugandan Finds Calling as a “Gorilla Doctor”
March 11, 2011Aid for Africa member Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) has a new veterinarian–Dr. Racheal Mbabazi. Racheal graduated from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, in 2010 with a degree in veterinary medicine. Racheal grew up in Kabale in south western Uganda with her two brothers and three sisters. She initially wanted to be a medical doctor, [...]
Planting the Seeds Toward a Brighter Future
February 25, 2011Tamiru Gerite lives with his wife and five children in the village of Bedengeltu, in Southern Ethiopia. He works hard as a farmer, but his subsistence fields generate little income. Last year, Aid for Africa member Trees for the Future and their local partner, Greener Ethiopia, began working with Tamiru to start a seedling nursery [...]
A New Model for Helping South Africa’s Most Vulnerable Children
February 2, 2011The founders of the Ubuntu Education Fund in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, realized early on that that a fresh approach was needed to help the thousands of vulnerable South African children they met; children who were orphaned by AIDS, suffering from emotional trauma of rape, HIV positive, and more. Instead of making one-time donations that [...]
Southern Sudan Votes for the Future and Prepares for the Challenges
January 10, 2011In Sudan, the south and north fought a civil war for more than three decades. Beginning January 9 through the 15th, the south is voting to become an independent state. With few roads to rural areas, very little health care, and an education system in its infancy, the new government will have its hands full. [...]
Partners In Health—A Vision of What Can Be
December 12, 2010Aid for Africa was founded on the belief that committed individuals working on the ground in Africa can make a real difference in the lives of those in need. Like other Aid for Africa member organizations, Partners In Health (PIH) began as a small grassroots organization. It focused on bringing health care to Haiti. [...]
Aid for Africa Girls Education Fund — Helping girls go to school, stay in school, and succeed in life!
September 16, 2010Life is tough for many poor girls in Africa. Culture and tradition often keeps them at home while their brothers go to school. Some girls are forced to marry when they are as young as 13 in exchange for a few cows. If a girl convinces her family to send her to a “free” government [...]
Africa’s growing economic muscle tells only part of the story
August 5, 2010Africa is making progress economically, according to a new report by McKinsey & Company. With combined gross domestic products across the continent of 1.6 trillion dollars in 2008, Africa is on par with Brazil. Improved political stability and economic reforms seem to be part of the reason, and as Africa continues to expand its presence [...]
For the Love of Soccer
July 8, 2010As the World Cup winds down this week, we are left with images of the best teams in the world competing for the top honor in soccer in vibrant and beautiful South Africa. Through the lens of this African country, many people are also left with images of a continent that they had never seen [...]
Scientific Research Underpins Development Advancements
June 16, 2010An elephant trampling a farmer’s field is a frequent problem in many parts of Africa. One elephant can destroy a farmer’s entire crop. Recent news reports suggest that research scientists may have found an eco-friendly way to keep the elephants out. Scientists have learned that elephants are afraid of swarming bees. So farmers may be [...]
Embracing Local Community Needs is Key to Conserving Africa’s Wildlife
April 16, 2010Today, in his column in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof writes about the demise of the African wild dog, also known as the painted dog. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands throughout Africa, the painted dog is about to disappear—only a few thousand remain in four countries.
Working to Save Africa’s Rich Biodiversity
February 25, 2010The United Nations has named 2010 International Biodiversity Year, acknowledging the continued loss of plant and animal species around the world from population growth, urbanization, deteriorating habitats, invasive species, and more. Last year, the U.N. reported that 17,000 animal and plant species are at risk of extinction and some 60 percent of our planet’s ecosystems [...]
PBS Turns a Much-Needed Spotlight on Maternal Health Risks in the Wake of the Haiti Earthquake
January 29, 2010It isn’t surprising that a team from the PBS newsmagazine NOW turned to Ann Starrs, president and cofounder of Family Care International, when it wanted to better understand why women in Haiti have the highest rate of death in childbirth in the Western Hemisphere and what some 63,000 pregnant Haitian women now face in the [...]
Alternatives to Orphanages Bring Hope to Africa’s Vulnerable Children
December 19, 2009The United Nations estimates that more than 55 million African children have lost one parent and that almost 15 million of them have lost a parent to AIDS. Orphanages are often seen as a solution for these orphaned and vulnerable children. In a recent article in the New York Times, Celia Dugger suggests an alternative. [...]
For Aid for Africa Members, Every Day is World AIDS Day
December 1, 2009Two-thirds of the people in the world living with HIV and AIDS are in Sub Saharan Africa. In its 2009 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS found that more than 22 million people in the region have HIV/AIDS. In 2008, 1.4 million people in the region died of AIDS and almost 2 million became [...]
Surviving Drought through Small Businesses
November 19, 2009According to Reuters some 23 million people are in need of food aid in East Africa because of severe drought. Last month the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development asked the international community for aid to feed 6.2 million people affected by the drought. In Kenya, hundreds of thousands of cattle and goats have [...]
The Nobel Economics Prize and Africa
October 14, 2009Tapping Elinor Ostrom as one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics is exciting for anyone interested in issues of saving forests, wildlife conservation, agricultural development, and environmental protection—all of critical importance in Africa. Aid for Africa members bring to life the ideas and principles Ostrom identified about how people come together to [...]
Strengthening Women’s Healthcare to Stem Rising Preterm Births
October 7, 2009A new study by the March of Dimes with the World Health Organization finds that globally each year almost 13 million babies are born prematurely—one of every ten newborns. Four million of these preterm babies die in their first month of life. And those who do not die face lives of impairment. In Africa, the [...]
The Power of Books
October 1, 2009Today’s Diane Rehm radio program featured the amazing story of a 14-year-old boy from Malawi, William Kamkwamba, who taught himself how to build a windmill out of garbage, bringing light to his remote village and transforming the lives of everyone in it. For us, the most notable piece of the story, featured in the new [...]
Aid for Africa Launches New Web Site
September 24, 2009Today, Aid for Africa announces the launch of its new web site. We hope this site will be a resource for those looking to support the causes – clean water, sustainable agricultural development, and the health of women and children, and others — that are so crucial to Sub Saharan Africa’s growth and prosperity. Whether [...]