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Last year, Boston AIDS Africa and World Vision coordinated a single-day event to assemble 3,200 Caregiver Kits to equip caregivers with the practical materials they need to bring dignity and comfort to those living with AIDS.
The kits were delivered to Rwanda in the spring of 2009.
This year's event will be on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at the MIT Johnson Ice Rink in Cambridge, MA. Special thanks to MIT for hosting this years' event!
Special Speaker: Princess Zulu
Princess Kasune Zulu took a bold step when she saw how AIDS was devastating her native Zambia: she refused to stay silent. She started hitchhiking with truck drivers on the transcontinental highways. The men, who frequent prostitutes and then return home to their wives, are at high risk of getting and spreading the virus. As Princess rode in their cabs, she lectured them about preventing AIDS.
Princess has shown great courage in her fight against the pandemic. And this fight is personal - she was orphaned by AIDS herself. By age 17, Princess had lost both parents and a baby sister to AIDS related illness, and was left to care for her three younger siblings.
In 1997. Princess launched a campaign to educate other Zambians to protect themselves from infection. At that time in Zambia, AIDS was rarely discussed and carried a heavy stigma, yet she went public. She says, "If we keep quiet, so many more people will die."
She spoke to truckers, gave seminars to businesses and worked with churches and schools. She reached even more people by hosting her own national radio show, "Positive Living". The program received honors from the U.S. Embassy in Zambia for excellence in broadcasting on HIV and AIDS.
Princess now speaks around the world to encourage people to make a difference for children and families affected by the virus. She has taken her message to the United Nations and international AIDS conferences. Her message has been well received by churches and youth organizations across the U.S., where she speaks to Christians about their responsibility to care for the most vulnerable and help prevent the spread of the virus. She also speaks on related issues such as education for girls, child protection, human rights, and gender and equality.
Princess talks frankly about the pandemic, but offers hope through the work of organizations such as World Vision. "There is hope in the midst of all this," she says. "We are not just numbers or statistics. We are real people with dreams and visions."
You can make a lasting difference in the lives affected by AIDS. Through Boston AIDS Africa Caregiver Kit event, you together with your co-workers, employees, friends or family can gain an understanding of the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time - and how together we can make a difference for those affected by AIDS.
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Princess Kasune Zulu
You can donate via credit card on-line.
Checks should be made payable to
World Vision and can be sent to:
Boston AIDS Africa
c/o Nowspeed, Inc.
200 Friberg Parkway, Suite 4005
Westborough, MA 01581
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