19 December 2008

Introduction:

USAID banner.jpg. [Also used in entry #8]

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Man in front of large banner advertising HIV/AIDS program (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Since 2004, the United States has supported anti-retroviral treatment for more than 1.64 million people in 15 countries. South Africa, with the world's biggest HIV-positive population, received $600 million in funding in 2008 through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The U.S. Agency for International Development provides funding to development groups that implement the programs. Johnson and Johnson, a maker of health care products, is one of a number of U.S. companies that have joined the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Photo 1:

Kami at Mapetla day care center.JPG

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Large puppet with children (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Kami, the world's first HIV-positive Muppet, plays a huge role in educating South African children and parents about the disease. Speaking in seven languages and appearing on radio and television programs, Kami removes the stigma related to HIV/AIDS and demonstrates that people infected with the virus can live normal lives with medication, good nutrition and proper hygiene. Kami is seen here paying a surprise visit to the Mapetla Day Care Center in Soweto.

Photo 2:

Kami at Soweto Hospice.JPG

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Large puppet with two children and baby (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Kami comforts children at the Soweto Hospice, which sets the standard for HIV/AIDS care that the South African government is trying to reproduce throughout the country. USAID played a role in the creation of Kami by connecting the South African Broadcasting Corporation with the American children's television program Sesame Street.

Photo 3:

Lucas Machipa and Mark Dobson.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Two men (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Lucas Machipa, a librarian in Mamolodi, South Africa, stands with Mark Dobson, a librarian at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, at the entrance of a health kiosk in a local library. The U.S. government has outfitted the kiosk with computer terminals, books and videos for educating South Africans about HIV/AIDS. The U.S. government provides similar centers for health information throughout South Africa.

Photo 4:

Handwashing lesson.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Women with children at barrel (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

At an after-school facility in the Doornkop neighborhood of Soweto, children affected by HIV/AIDS are taught the importance of hand washing and other hygienic procedures. USAID provides the funding to the Humana People to People charity to operate the Doornkop facility, which keeps children affected by the virus in school and offers them skills to live almost normal lives.

Photo 5:

children at picnic table.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Children sitting at table (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Children attending the Doornkop facility receive a nutritious hot meal every afternoon after they arrive from school. After having their bellies filled, they are tutored in social skills, medication and hygiene, homework, sports, music and drama. Some young adults who were nurtured at Doornkop have returned to the facility as mentors for children.

Photo 6:

Roger Crawford at TCE.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Close-up on Crawford (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Roger Crawford, the executive director of Johnson and Johnson in South Africa, explains how his company, a global maker of health products, supports South African groups in the struggle to overcome HIV/AIDS. Johnson and Johnson, along with the U.S. government, supports the South African group TCE, which canvases neighborhoods and educates residents on dealing with the AIDS disease. TCE stands for Total Control of the Epidemic.

Photo 7:

Pinky Ntwasa Matthews Tewesa.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Woman holding paper (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Pinky Ntwasa (foreground) and Mathews Tewesa work for TCE (Total Control of the Epidemic), which operates in the Kagiso township outside Johannesburg. TCE activists educate the 500,000 Kagiso residents on preventing and treating the epidemic. The activists wear red military-style berets and organize themselves along military chains of command because they see the campaign against HIV/AIDS as a life-and-death struggle requiring iron discipline.

Photo 8:

USAID banner.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Man in front of large banner advertising HIV/AIDS program (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

The Light House Foundation, a South African group devoted to fighting HIV/AIDS, holds a rally in the village of Letlhabile, northwest of Pretoria, to make the residents aware of the epidemic. USAID and Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa work with Light House in helping the rural community come to grips with HIV/AIDS, which is thinning the population. On the far side of the banner, many village residents are lining up to register to be tested for the virus.

Photo 9:

Tshepo Ditsele.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Ditsele by hanging banner (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Light House co-founder Tshepo Ditsele greets an old man at an HIV/AIDS awareness rally in the village of Letlhabile, which was part of a neglected black homeland, Bophuthatswana, in the apartheid era. After completing advanced degrees and working in the South African corporate world, Ditsele and his wife, Nkele, returned to their native region to help impoverished people overcome the disease. They founded Light House in 2006.

Photo 10:

Nkele Ditsele.jpg

EMBED: State Dept./Desiree Swart

ALT: Two people pushing woman in wheelchair (State Dept./Desiree Swart)

Light House co-founder Nkele Ditsele (standing, right) smiles with two elderly residents of Jericho village, where she, her husband, Tshepo, and the Light House staffers work tirelessly to educate people about HIV/AIDS. In some areas, one of every two houses has a person dying of the virus. Backed by USAID and Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, Light House is helping people understand the need to change their behaviors to defeat the disease.