A Christmas Appeal for Stay Alive AIDS Prevention
An “orphan-headed household” is one of the most heartrending plights of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that is devastating Africa. Children, no more than 9 or 10 years old, sometimes find themselves in the position of being the head of a “family” consisting of themselves and younger siblings. Sadly, orphan-led families like these are becoming all too common, but they are only one manifestation of the impact AIDS is having on Africa.
The statistics are staggering. There are already 14 million AIDS orphans in Africa. By the end of the decade that number is expected to exceed 25 million! In many places in Africa you walk through villages and see very few adults. There are grandparents, a few older adults and a virtual sea of orphans. It is very troubling to realize that almost an entire generation is missing due to the AIDS pandemic.
Children in these situations believe that they are doomed to reach adulthood and die just as their parents and other adults in their lives have done. They have no hope for their future.
Five years ago, Reach The Children began implementing a program, created by United Families International, called Stay Alive: HIV/AIDS Prevention Program. We realized that the only hope for the future of Africa is to teach the children the principles that will help them to live long, loving lives.
Stay Alive offers hope. It empowers young minds with the knowledge they need to make choices that will help them avoid contracting AIDS and to build their future families. This is a skills-based program which teaches abstinence before marriage and fidelity within marriage. We and our partners have already taught it to more than 750,000 children in Africa, thus helping them to avoid contracting this deadly disease. Yet, this number represents only a tiny fraction of the children we must reach. This is why I am asking for your help.
Stay Alive is unique both in its effective teaching of how HIV/AIDS is contracted and in empowering children with decision-making skills which are critically essential for their future.
I am pleased to announce that recent independent evaluation results underscore the program’s effectiveness. An evaluation of the Stay Alive program in Kenya revealed that there was an astounding 61% drop in teen-pregnancy rates after it was taught. This is a great testimony to the program’s effectiveness in reducing the probability of early sexual behavior.
The Stay Alive program costs an average of 75 cents per child per year to teach. Imagine helping to save a child’s life for less than a dollar! For $50 we can take Stay Alive to more than 60 children. For $100 we can teach more than 130 children. For $1,000 we can present it to several schools. Any amount you can afford will help and will be put to good use.
With so many resources needed to protect children and their future families, there is a critical need to secure funds to continue the Stay Alive program in Africa. This is why I am asking for your immediate, life-saving, financial support today. You can easily and securely donate on-line by simply visiting our website at: www.reachthechildren.org
Your contribution to help us save Africa’s children is always tax-deductible.
The greatest gift any parent could give their child is the gift of a long and loving life. This Christmas season, please do for these AIDS orphans what their parents are no longer able to do, and help ALL the children of Africa ‘Stay Alive.’
Thank you for help.
With warm regards,
Kevin Clawson
President
REACH THE CHILDREN
14 Chesham Way
Fairport, NY 14450-3808
toll free: 1-800-275-3003
phone: 585-223-3344
fax: 585-223-5477
email: stayalive@reachthechildren.org
website: www.reachthechildren.org
How Stay Alive Works
The Stay Alive program involves children in discussions that help them choose to live long and loving lives. Stay Alive is successful because it strikes at the root cause of HIV/AIDS in children, which is premature sexual activity.
- Stay Alive teaches children simple lessons which give them the skills to say no to pre-marital sex while outlining the principles and truths that lay the foundation for a long and loving life.
- Specific skills learned include not hurting the ones you love, the concepts of ‘consequence,’ consequential thinking skills, understanding that families can bring happiness and the importance of fidelity within marriage.
- It has generally been regarded a taboo for parents in Africa to discuss sex with their children. It simply was not done. Because parents value education and because the program is instituted through the schools, parents are now encouraged to discuss the subject with their children. Once this barrier has been crossed, communication lines between parents and children are opened and utilized.
Governments, teachers, parents, students and religious and community leaders attribute great changes in attitudes, beliefs and sexual behavior to the Stay Alive program. It is successful beyond what we ever imagined, and that is a great comfort.
Some Stay Alive Personal Success Stories
Here are a few recent success stories about the significant impact that our Stay Alive program is having on families in Africa:
Joe Salim Mwangi, a religious leader in Kenya, heard about the Stay Alive program from children who had embraced the program taught in their schools. He uses his own funds to implement the program in his church. As a result of AIDS, he notes that people are dying daily in his community. Many parents who are still alive prostitute themselves for survival. The children are following their parents’ examples and, as a result, AIDS is spreading. He notes, “The children find Stay Alive very practical because they know of someone who died the other day or they know someone who is very sick. Stay Alive helps the children to get rid of any type of behavior that can destroy their lives. The parents can see the value in the program because they can see there is something there that even they can learn.”
Naomi Obuya is a teenage girl who lives in Kendu Bay, a village in Western Kenya. The HIV rate in Kendu Bay is close to 33 percent of the population, yet no one wants to talk about it. A few years ago, Naomi was taking care of her ailing mother. She knew something was wrong, but no one spoke of the problem. Her father had died a year earlier of a sickness and her mother was soon to follow. The Stay Alive program was introduced into Kendu Bay during the time Naomi’s mother started showing signs of the sickness. Prior to her death, the mother had one request and that was to obtain the words to the ‘Stay Alive’ song so that she could help uplift and motivate her children to stay HIV/AIDS free.
A grandmother in a rural village in Uganda is raising seven grandchildren because two of her adult children have died of AIDS and a third son is presently dying from the disease. She told us that she has been involved with her oldest grandchildren in the Stay Alive discussions in her home. She said the Stay Alive program helps her grandchildren be more obedient and it also gives her a way to discuss HIV/AIDS that she did not have with her own children. She said, "I was not able to save my own children, but with the Stay Alive program, I may save my grandchildren."
Lydiah Anyango, a 15-year-old Kenyan, started the Stay Alive program three years ago. She said, “The Stay Alive program has really helped me as an individual and it has helped many of my friends. I was taught how to make the right choices, how to help those people I love be happy and proud of me and how to make my family members be joyful. Each time I had an opportunity to learn more about Stay Alive, I made sure that I told these things to my family and to my friends. It has helped many of my friends to make the right choices, how to have good friends and how to have good behaviors.”
Sarah Muchiti, a Kenyan parent, explains, “Because of the Stay Alive program, my children know the outcome of the choices they make and they understand that for them to have a happy and long life, they have to abstain, they have work hard in education; they have to sacrifice for others; they have to show love.”
Sarah was married for 15 years before her husband abandoned their family. Sarah explained, “Because of the Stay Alive program, I learned that I should only be with my husband in order to show love to my kids, to let them have trust in me. The Stay Alive program has [helped me understand] that I have to work hard, give them an education, sacrifice for them and then [stay alive] for my kids’ sake.”
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