SATU(RED)AYS

I hope you weren't one of the people who couldn't make it into the Hotel Café on SATU(RED)AY night! Our first monthly event at the Hotel Café was an assured success even before doors opened, as there was a substantial line down the alley as I arrived to set up the (RED) info booth. The solid turnout wasn't surprising though, for the Hotel Café had invited a spectacular lineup of artists: Cary Brothers, Alexi Murdoch, Mandy Moore, Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, Sanders Bohlke, and Katie Herzig.

Some of the artists, like Cary and Priscilla, were veterans of the Hotel Café Tour sponsored by (RED) last year, and it was great to see them again last weekend. Cary, in particular, got the message of (RED) to the crowd quite well, telling them that ticket proceeds from the show will be enough to provide about 10 people in Africa with ARV treatment for a year. The crowd roared with cheers.

Other artists were new to (RED), but they were eager to learn about how (RED) works so they could tell their friends and fans. Before the show, Mandy (pictured below with me and Libbie) asked me questions so she could tell her audience how to support (RED) – and then she told me that she's already bought a few iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Editions! We discussed how the money generated from the sales of (PRODUCT) RED such as the nano go straight to the Global Fund and then onto health and community support programs in Africa for people affected by HIV/AIDS.

Indeed, (RED) impact was a highlight throughout the show as people streamed by the booth to ask about how their (PRODUCT) RED purchases would help fight AIDS in Africa. Some folks were second-time visitors, after having signed up to the (RED) email list with us on the tour last year, and they were eager to find out news about how much (RED) has sent to the Global Fund so far ($25 million!), and to hear about new products that have hit stores.

Our surprise visitor to the booth wasn't a Hotel Café regular, though – it was a (RED) person from far away – Nicholas from Australia (pictured below)! He came decked out in (RED) gear – including a DISCOVE(RED) shirt and ADO(RED) necklace from Gap. He's here on vacation, and learned about the SATU(RED)AY show from reading American magazines upon his arrival. "The first thing that I did when I got here was to go to the Gap to buy (RED)," he told us. He waited in line for a few hours before he got inside – we were stunned and very happy to meet him.

What a show. I can't wait for the next one! We hope you can join us.

--bn

P.S. Special thanks to our newest (RED) staffer, Lia (pictured below in the INSPI(RED) shirt), and (RED) friend Libbie Schrader (pictured below in green) who volunteered to help me spread (RED) at the show.

Keseme, American Express RED's "supermodel," talks about his life in Kenya

Those of you in the UK might remember the striking American Express RED advertisement that paired supermodel Gisele Bundchen with Masaai warrior Keseme Ole Parsapaet. If you haven't seen the image, you can take a look here.

This week, the Associated Press caught up with Keseme to learn about his life in Kenya. Here's my favorite part:

"Anyone seeing that shot of the supermodel and the Maasai herdsman, which has adorned billboards and the pages of Vogue as part of a campaign to fight AIDS in Africa, might well wonder: What was going through his mind?

'To be honest all I was thinking about when I was with this woman was my cattle and goats,' Keseme Ole Parsapaet told The Associated Press, confessing to sleepless nights worrying about who was looking after his herd."

Click to read more of Kenyan Maasai 'supermodel' prefers goat herding to stardom.

--bn

Adele and Karen's Swaziland trip ends

We're looking forward to seeing photos and more detailed stories from Adele and Karen's Swaziland trip, but in the meantime, here are some early reflections about the end of the trip from Adele. --bn

End of trip blog: March 16, 2007

Hi from aboard the small plane already winging its way away from Mbabane towards Johannesburg, as Karen and I leave Swaziland at the end of an intense week – a week of learning more about Swaziland’s HIV epidemic, and a week also of deepening attachment to this small, beautiful country waging a valiant battle against the disease that in some way affects every person in this nation of one million people.

Since we last wrote, we have had another series of moving experiences through meeting more HIV-positive Swazis as well as the healthcare workers helping them to fight this disease. Karen met Siziwe, a young orphan – Siziwe is an HIV-positive girl living with her grandparents, who has TB in addition to being HIV-positive (very common in this part of the world), but has had to start on TB medication before starting on anti-retrovirals (Karen will write more about this). While Karen went into a rural area to meet Siziwe and her family, I re-met with Vusi Shabangu, a former marathon runner, and his wife Kwazi, both HIV-positive, whom I had met on Rosie’s and my trip late last year, and spent some time with him and his family at their home. For the first time I met with Dr. Velephi Okello, the Swazi-born national coordinator for Swaziland’s antiretroviral therapy program and as such the woman responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the country’s program to ensure ARV access to all who need access to treatment.

The next day, Thursday, Karen and I spent the morning at Mbabane’s central antiretroviral treatment center, guided by Dr Patrick Okoth, the coordinating doctor at the center, and then an afternoon at an inspiring KaGogo (“Granny”) center at a place called Sitenji, where around 250 orphans come for lunch every day – for many this is their only meal of the day – and of these 60 children are “double orphans”, meaning they have lost both parents, and live either with surviving elderly relatives or just with their siblings. Some of the children are as young as three, and this is the only place they get to have a bit of love and a bit of food. I can’t begin to do justice, here, to the emotional impact of hearing over 200 children singing grace and giving thanks for their modest meal, seeing the care with which these dignified, loving volunteer women dish out the food and carefully hand each child their plate, and of witnessing the children’s trusting, vulnerable, grateful expressions as they approach the front of the line.

This is mostly just a list of what we have done but it can’t begin to describe the impact at the individual, human level of what it means to every person reached by support provided by the Global Fund and (RED), to be receiving this assistance – whether it’s anti-retroviral treatment that they otherwise would not be able to afford, a meal that they would otherwise not eat, or the school fees they would otherwise not be able to pay. There were times this week when Karen and I both – though we are more than familiar with the issues – were overcome with emotion and with the real impact HIV and AIDS can have on individuals and a society who have the will and the drive to deal with this themselves, but simply lack the money. It has been hugely gratifying to see how much has been done with Global Fund and (RED) money – yet there is still so much more needed, and spending time this week with the open-hearted, generous, dedicated people we have met has been the most powerful motivator for us all to do much more, and to keep our focus on what really matters.

--Adele

Bobby tells Lawrence, KS about Gap (RED)

Melissa, a friend of our CEO Bobby, visited a local Gap store with him during their trip to Kansas, and she just sent over a few photos and some words about the experience. Thanks, Melissa! --bn

During a recent trip to Lawrence, Kansas to attend a KU basketball game, Bobby also scored points by making a special appearance in the local Gap retail store. Shoppers embraced his presence and were educated on how they can support (RED) at the local level. One female shopper was excited to learn that her purchase of one (RED) t-Shirt helped mothers and babies in Africa. Many thanks to Kathy Mattan, GAP store manager (pictured below with Bobby), for making our visit so memorable!

View the Lawrence Journal World article featuring an interview with Bobby here.

Be proud -- wear (RED)!

--Melissa

More photos of Denyse from Rwanda

Remember Denyse?

Adele wrote about cute little Denyse Mushimiyimana last October, and I just uncovered some more photos of her in an email that Adele sent over last week.

I don't have any more info about Denyse right now, but I wanted to share the photos and revisit her story.

--bn

How much is $25 million?

As our CEO Bobby Shriver mentioned last week, your (RED) purchases have generated $25 million in contributions to The Global Fund already! Thank you so much for buying (RED)!

But you may be wondering, how much money is that? Well...

• It’s five times the amount the Global Fund received from private companies in the previous four years.
• It's even more money than is given each year by committed donor countries like Denmark ($23 million), Australia ($13 million), Belgium ($10 million), and many others.
• Most importantly, it's enough to buy medicine for about 160,000 Africans with AIDS for a year.

We have a long way to go in the fight against AIDS. To find out more about the Global Fund or donate money directly click here.

Buying (RED) is just one way to help. But it's nice to see that the (RED) nation has joined the fight!

Adèle reports on Day 2 in Swaziland

14 March 2006

Hi from Mbabane, Swaziland’s charming capital, which is set amidst green rolling hills and has been providing Karen and me with a very warm welcome, in all ways. It feels as if we have been here for longer than three days. We have met a range of amazing people with incredible stories, whose courage in the face of unbelievable hardship boggles the mind – both individuals who are HIV-positive and trying to live positively and make ends meet in dire circumstances, to orphans who are in desperate need of love, support, and the most basic of care, to healthcare workers and HIV counselors who are often working very tough conditions but whose dedication and commitment to helping their fellow Swazis is both impressive and humbling.

Though we knew before coming here that over 13,000 Swazis are now on antiretroviral treatment, free of charge, through programs funded by the Global Fund and implemented by the government’s National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), hearing the stories of a few individuals whose lives have been turned around because ARVs are now accessible to them – they have been free through government hospitals since 2004 – is a powerful motivator for all of us to continue to do our best to ensure that the funds keep flowing.

Take Lulu Vilapati – we met Lulu yesterday at the Baylor Clinic, a pediatric AIDS clinic in Mbabane which is a private clinic focusing on HIV-positive children and their families, but whose antiretrovirals come from the Global Fund-funded government program. Lulu is 23, HIV-positive, on free ARV treatment, and works as a translator at the clinic, assisting doctors and patients in the consulting rooms (often the children and their parents who come to the clinic speak only SiSwati, and some of the American doctors who work there don’t, so both sides need some translation help during consultations). Lulu is gorgeous and the picture of health – and is herself a mother, to a 2-year-old little girl called Sinetapha (which means “we have hope”), who is HIV-negative thanks to Lulu having been on ARVs during her pregnancy, and having had the prevention of mother-to-child transmission treatment during delivery. You can see how Lulu is a total inspiration to the women who come here when, in the consulting room, they discover that they are positive, and they learn that Lulu is as well, and they understand in an instant by looking at Lulu, that being HIV-positive can mean having many years of health and a productive and joyous life.

Then there’s Sisi Dube, a 38-year-old nurse who runs the Lobamba Clinic outside of Mbabane, where we went yesterday. The Lobamba clinic is something of a contrast to the Baylor one – it is quite small and modest (Baylor is a big, brand new building) but spotless and clearly an efficient, smooth-running operation. Here the focus is on prenatal care – including counseling and testing women for HIV. If the women are positive, they are referred to the government hospitals and health centres for follow up and treatment, as well as for actual delivery when the time comes to have the baby. Though Sisi Dube and her staff work in constrained conditions, they somehow manage to be cheerful and strong and provide incredible support for the patients who come there, many of whom – like the young mother with a dehydrated 8-week old baby who Sisi Dube was rehydrating by syringe-feeding when we arrived – have nowhere to turn and for whom paying the 3 Emalangeni (about 50c) for the clinic visit is unaffordable. Sisi has worked at the Lobamba Clinic for 15 years – a real sign of her dedication and strength.

There’s much more to tell – and we will share more of the stories of the people we’ve been spending time with, along with photographs and some audio clips of our interviews – when we get back.

Adèle

Karen's first day in Swaziland

Monday, 12 March 2007

Arrived at Manzini Airport, Swaziland at around 12 noon. We were greeted by Sifiso, a friendly guy who works for NERCHA, National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS, the government body that manages the distribution of Global Fund money here in Swaziland. My first impression of Swaziland as we drove to the hotel was that it is greener and hillier than I expected, very beautiful really. We dropped our bags at the Mountain Inn, a lovely inn overlooking Mbabane, and headed straight for the NERCHA offices where we met Beth and Nana. Nana, a very striking, professional Swazi woman, manages communications for NERCHA. Beth is a “volunteer” with a big job who came to Swaziland as a Peace Corps volunteer from Chicago. She spent a year living in a small rural village and is now at the NERCHA offices.

Our first project visit was to a NCP – Neighborhood Care Point. NCPs are crucial in Swaziland. Not only do they provide schooling and a place to go for young children who have lost one or both parents to HIV, but they also provide meals for the children. For many of the children it is the only meal they will get that day. This is just one of 154 community-based feeding centers that the Global Fund has financed the building of the center and the meal program.

As soon as we got out of the car we were greeted by the children who had just finished their lessons for the day… They were out in the yard playing, waiting for their lunch of mielie meal (maize porridge). Not shy or bashful in the least, they came right up to us to say hello. The children speak SiSwati at home but are taught in English at the school. Of course they were all gorgeous and engaging; I could have easily spent the day playing with them. We then went into the NCP to speak with Queeneth, a 33-year-old teacher who is director of Education for Children’s Cup, which is a sub-sub-recipient of Global Fund money. A passionate woman who obviously cares deeply about the children, she was adamant that the NCP be a safe haven for the children as many come from extremely difficult home situations. She discussed the numerous times a child has come to school weak and tired, presenting symptoms of HIV. She encourages and helps the caregiver or parent to have them tested so they can start antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) if necessary, to keep them healthy.

Up until 2004, ARVs were too expensive for the majority of people who needed them. Imagine that…you or your child is diagnosed with HIV and you are prescribed ARVs but you can’t afford them. Now thanks to Global Fund money, ARVs are free to everyone who needs them. Read that sentence again and let it sink in… 13,000 Swazis are currently taking ARVs provided by Global Fund funding.

Additional children-focused disbursements include:
• 860 teachers have been trained in psyco-social counselling.
• Feeding schemes for 335 schools.
• School fees for over 59,000 children. School is NOT free in Swaziland.

--Karen

Karen posts from Heathrow, en route to Swaziland

Karen sent this over before her flights to Swaziland. We can't wait to hear about her experiences!

--bn

Well, I am at Heathrow waiting for my BA flight to Johannesburg then on to Swaziland. I have to admit the place and the word itself, Swaziland, sounds very exotic to me. It is my first trip to Africa and the excitement would be overwhelming if it weren’t kept in check by a bit of trepidation.

When the opportunity for me (!) to go to Swaziland with Adele first arose, I didn’t believe it would really happen. This would be an amazing experience and I didn’t want to get my hopes up, just in case, for whatever reason, it didn't happen. As the days went on and I booked my ticket, got my "jabs" and malaria pills, and organized my life for while I'm away, the excitement gave way to apprehension. Although I have been working in the non-profit world for a few years and am familiar with the seemingly insurmountable statistics, have heard my share of truly heartbreaking stories, and have visited centers for troubled, homeless teens; immigration centers and the like here in the UK, this will be very different.

There are two things I hope we/I can do while on this trip. I hope Adele and I will be able to relate the stories and experiences of the people we meet in a heartfelt and meaningful way, and I hope I am able to maintain my composure when faced with a roomful of big brown eyes belonging to HIV orphans or when speaking with an HIV+ expectant mother... My colleague Roz has warned me to take it easy the first couple of days in regard to what you expect from yourself. “Africa can be overwhelming if you haven’t been before,” she said. We shall see…

Best

Karen

Profile and interview of Rose Rwabasinga from Rwanda

Adele from the Global Fund and Karen from (RED)'s London office headed to Swaziland today. While they're on their trip, here is another interview that Adele and her colleague Robert Bourgoing conducted during their previous Africa trip.

Rose Rwabasinga is their subject, a Rwandan woman who is the vice president of the national AIDS commission. She's a 45-year-old mother who has been HIV+ for the past 11 years, so she has experience has a counselor as well as a beneficiary of Global Fund programs.

--bn

Rose Rwabasinga profile and interview (translated from French)

By Robert Bourgoing and Adèle Sulcas

Shortly after selling her car and parcel of land to maintain the family and buy medicine, Rose Rwabasinga, an HIV+ widow from Kigali, ran out of money. She resolved to die rather than struggle in pain as her three children starved. “It was a catastrophe! I had nothing left to sell,” remembers the 45 year old sadly.

Rose was discriminated against because of her HIV+ status, so she wanted to join with others who had a similar problem. She joined an association which helped her enormously – she felt free to speak as she wanted to about the disease, to discuss it with others, and felt relived that she was able to share her problem with others who understood. When she would fall sick, the other association members were the first to come to her aid.

All Rose’s 3 children are HIV-negative. However, many of the association’s members had HIV+ children, and this was one of the reasons they began campaigning for access to free or reduced-price antiretrovirals.

In January 2004, the government of Rwanda, with support from the Global Fund and, since May 2006, (RED), began making free antiretroviral drugs available to all people living with AIDS. Rose felt “resurrected from death” and felt renewed hope about her life: “If we hadn’t been offered free drugs at exactly that time, I would certainly have died.”

TRANSCRIPT

My name is Rose Rwabasinga. I am 45 years old and have three children. I live in Kigali, Rwanda. I have been HIV positive for the last 11 years. My husband died in 1996 because of AIDS. It was his doctor who diagnosed my status. I have been under ARV treatment since the year 2000.

How were you getting antiretroviral medicine before the free drugs programme began?

I used to buy my own medicines but as a civil servant was not earning enough to afford them. First, I sold my car and was then able to buy drugs for two years. Then, because I was no longer working, I sold my piece of land to keep my children in school and continue buying drugs. It was a disaster! I had nothing left to sell and yet was too weak to work. We were doomed and had no way to survive. I didn’t have any hope left in life, and was even ready to commit suicide. I can assure you that many people felt the same way I did.

Was it around this time that free medicines provided through the Global Fund were made available?

Yes, the medicines arrived in January 2004. The Government provided these medicines to everyone who needed them. Finally, we really could access treatment. Now I keenly follow the doctor’s orders, and feel physically fit. The only work I cannot do any kind of work which is not too heavy.

Where do you see yourself in future?

These days I can make plans. I have always wanted to go to university. I thought about it in the past but concluded that it was useless, because at the time I didn’t hope to live for much longer. Now I make solid plans. If I find the money, I will enroll in university, because I know that I can survive for 15 years or more. I look forward to living because I can always make plans.

Have you heard about (RED)? What do you know about it?

I know that there is a campaign which relies on the sale of red products to raise some money towards helping people living with HIV/AIDS. I truly don’t know how to thank these people because they are doing humanity an important favour. They truly are prolonging many lives and reconstructing this country, because in Rwanda there are many HIV infected people. When we see people making this kind of sacrifice - if they are really buying these products because they want money to help infected people – I really cannot thank them enough. It’s a very noble act! Please tell them that if you meet them. I think that there should also be a written message in the products that proceeds will go towards helping infected people, because that will bring out a lot more people. If I ever get the chance to meet some of the people buying these products, I will tell them just how thankful I am.

How (RED) works

Listening to a great Nada Surf song “Always Love” from The Weight is a Gift on the radio last night got me thinking about choices. Choices are central to how (RED) works.

Since (RED) is a new idea – a new way of empowering your purchasing – it takes a few details to see clearly how it works.

Basically, this is the formula.

We go to a company that is in the business of making and selling stuff. We say: use your most brilliant designers to fashion things that people want, use your top creative talent to market these collections to consumers, and send up to half the profit on what you sell to the Global Fund, which will spend it on saving lives in Africa. We also say: don’t charge more than you would for comparable items and don’t cap how much money you generate for the Global Fund. Oh, and you have to stick with this for several years. It can’t just be a promotional one-off effort.

Ok, now the fun begins…

You enter the picture. You’re walking the mall, surfing online, wandering through downtown, or browsing shops in your neighborhood. You’re in the market for a new pair of jeans, a new phone, a music player, a stylish jacket, a new pair of sneakers. If you choose to purchase any of these things from a (RED) partner’s collection, you start a powerful chain of events.

An illustration:

1) Paul buys an iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition for $199. Same price as other nanos.

2) Apple sends $10 directly to the Global Fund – NOT to (RED). (RED) never touches the money.

3) The Global Fund sends 100% of the money to health programs in Africa.

4) Health workers use the $10 to help a person in Africa impacted by HIV/AIDS. This equates to a month’s worth of antiretroviral treatment for someone with HIV.

If you think that’s a good deal, buy more (RED) items. You can also donate directly to the Global Fund.

And a final word on the role of marketing because that’s probably what got Paul’s attention in the first place – it’s likely he’d never heard of the Global Fund before, but what a difference a new choice can make…

That new choice was made possible because of an infiltration operation. (RED) companies are letting us highjack a part of their budgets that normally go for pure product promotion to help spread (RED). As a novel alternative to spray painting graffiti about 5,500 daily AIDS deaths, Gap instead gave us their ten miles of store windows and the artistry of Annie Leibovitz. Motorola and Sprint gave us concerts, TV commercials and cinema ads. Converse has given us command of their online shoe design program. Mr. Armani: a fashion and music extravaganza in London and worldwide in-store promotions. VH1 let us take over their site to run our manifesto. Tom from MySpace told his 100 million friends about the (RED) community on MySpace. YouTube ran our manifesto on their homepage. Google embraced us with their search key on World AIDS Day. Now, Vanity Fair has offered their July issue.

This is huge and it’s beautiful and it’s a reminder that (RED) is a generous idea. It breeds creativity. It inspires. It connects. But most importantly, it delivers. The Global Fund is $25 million closer toward helping to eliminate AIDS in Africa thanks to (RED) shoppers. How did these shoppers hear about (RED)? They got the message through media coverage and through the advertising of (RED) partner companies. And that’s the premise of the model.

(RED) turns the power of marketing genius towards the emergency and cranks up the volume. It embraces what would be a regular old advertising spend by a company and takes that investment to the power of (RED). We aren’t stealing but we are co-opting, and we’re doing it in a way that delivers for all – (RED) shoppers, (RED) companies and employees, and recipients of (RED) flows to Global Fund programs in Africa.

Always love.

--Tamsin

An interview with Thembi Nkambule from Swaziland

As Adele from the Global Fund and Karen from (RED)'s London office prepare for their trip to Swaziland next week, we're posting up interviews that Adele and her team conducted when they were in Swaziland last year.

Adele mentioned Thembi Nkambule last year in the (RED) blog:
Rosie and I met a remarkable woman named Thembi Nkambula, who is the national coordinator of the Swazi Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS. Thembi is 32 and HIV-positive. She is on treatment now and doing well, though the day we met her she was having a rest day off work as she wasn’t feeling great. Though Thembi has 3 children and a demanding job, working in very tough circumstances to support other HIV-positive people, she has a confident and serene aura, and is deeply grateful that she can now access antiretroviral treatment for free.

Adele's hoping to meet up with Thembi again next week to catch up about her life and her work.

Below we have some words from Thembi herself.

--bn

Interview with Thembi Nkambule
Gigi’s Place “neighbourhood care point,” Mbabane, 1 November 2006
By Adèle Sulcas and Rosie Vanek (Global Fund)
Photo by Adèle Sulcas

My name is Thembi Nkambule and I come from a rural area known as Louivé in the Manzini district. And I am the national coordinator for the Swaziland National Netowork of People Living with HIV in Swaziland. I started working there since its inception in 2004. I started off as a secretary to the working committee that formed SWANNEPHA and then I became the national coordinator when the office started in… when the secretariat for SWANNEPHA started in March 2005. So since then, I have been with SWANNEPHA. I found out that I was HIV positive in 2002, December. In actual fact, I had been sick for the whole year since much of that year and then I was diagnosed with pneumonia and later diagnosed with TB and later developed other diseases that I cannot even remember. But all of them were in me. So in December I decided to go for a test and I tested and at the same time the doctor suggested that I do my CD4 count so that she knows what really to do and I did that. My CD4 count was at 18 at that time. So she immediately made a prescription for me. I was surprised… when I went to buy the medication, I realized that it was 550, so I held on to the prescription up until the following year, which was I think end of January 2003. And I started taking my medication in February 2003. So I think some time later in the year I was told of the program which provided free of charge by… through a private clinic and a support group… through the support of the Global Fund. So I enrolled in that the program and since then, I have been doing great in that program. And I think, recently I did my CD4 count and it was 800 and something, I cannot even remember the figures very much very well. But I think I am doing well, I am fine.

Q: When did you first find out you were HIV positive?

A: Because I was very sick, I thought maybe dying would be the best thing to do. I just couldn’t understand why I had to be that sick. I thought it was the end of the world. And really the doctor was there next to me and told it’s not because there has been some medication, that there is hope for people who are leaving with HIV. And really I didn’t know much about the medication. All I knew was that people had to eat well and have a positive living because then there was not much information on treatment.

Q: How did you feel when you found out you were HIV positive?

A: I thought it was the end of the world. I was really sick and I thought I was in the last stages because really we knew about all the stages in HIV infection since there wasn’t much information on treatment. The doctor who was next to me gave me information and said there is hope for people living with HIV. There is treatment that will prolong your life for some time and really I got hope from then on and I thought may be I am going to live. Say there is treatment for opportunistic infections because I think she saw some candidiasis in me and there was so much. All those… are treatable, so HIV is also controllable at that time. So I think that gave me hope because I was sick and somebody was there to give me hope immediately.

Q: Once you started taking ARVs, how long did it take you to start to feel better?

A: Hmmm, I think it was 6 months because I had developed some lumps around my neck and once they went over, I got better and I got fine.

Q: How do you feel now about your life and your future?

A: Well, I think I want to enroll for a MBA. You know I have hope for the future, I think I can do a lot. I feel like I am a renewed person, I am new and I think I also want to see other people with HIV benefiting from all programs there are in the country. That’s really how I feel at the moment but really the studying part of it, I am quite excited. I feel like I have to do it. I need to do that.

I share with everyone in the country. Everyone that I talk to… I share with everyone just to tell them that I have a fulfilled life but I also make it a point to tell people that it is not easy living with HIV because even when you are happy, no matter how happy you are, sometimes at eight o’clock everyday, whether it is in the morning or in the evening, I have to remember to take my medication. So sometimes it does interfere with my life but most of the time it doesn’t. And I also tell them that really it’s… it’s quite not easy because even when you go around, people sometimes do look at you and say there is the woman living with HIV in the country. Yet that is not my identity, my identity still remains… So those are the parts I always tell people about because sometimes I think I feel that… that there is that kind of message that is saying that living with HIV is quite fine. It’s fine if you already have it, but if you do not have it, we still need to give those messages that are saying don’t get it because it’s not easy. It’s not easy, sometimes, you know I am not a person who’d go to the doctor’s now and again, but now I have to be. I have to do that, you know I have never been sick in my life, I also share about my sickness how hard it was. I share it with everyone, not within SWANNEPHA only.

Q: Do you think that the rest of the world outside of Swaziland are disturbed about HIV as much as Swaziland? And what would you like to be (…)?

A: I don’t think people know what really is happening with HIV in the country, especially in a small population like ours and with such a high prevalence where basically one way or the other you are connected to the next person even if the person is still HIV negative, they do have families afraid that a family…a relative, a friend who is sick. So one way or the other you are all affected by the whole HIV pandemic. So, really as I stand here, you know I really think of the people that have left home because one of the people, one person that I know… who is a friend to me, yesterday could not even get a full cocktail of the medication that she had to take which is for TB… TB treatment. It was quite bad because she had been diagnosed with MDR. So, I thought, if we do not have all the drugs for MDR, what if XDR which has been found to be just next door in South Africa, what if it comes to the country we would not be ready for if we do not have MDR drugs yet… all of them anyway because they say one drug is useless. And hmm, maybe to the rest of the world I would age people out there to continue to support, to support Swaziland to know that the high prevalence means… the high prevalence also means that there are people struggling.. suffering out there. There are people who are sick, there are people who need assistance because possibly the whole program… as you can see behind here, there are so many children who are vulnerable… maybe if … if a person who pledged to support Swaziland maybe on a daily or monthly basis or even annually, that will make a difference to these children because really parents would not be dying because really I think… I look at myself and I think that I have three children. If I can live up until all of them finish, you know, high school that will be very nice because at least I would know by then, they would be going to university and they will be able to take care of themselves.

Q: Tell us about your children?

A: The eldest is 15 and the youngest is 10… My oldest child is 15 and he is doing form 3, the other one is 13 and she is doing form 2 and the last one is 10 and she is doing grade 5.

Q: Do they know about your HIV status?

A: They know because I have to take medications everyday so you have to explain as to why you do have to… why do they have to remind you to take medication at a certain time. And usually I see them just bringing in the medication for me even when I am not really aware. So really it’s quite… it’s quite… I think I will also urge people to also disclose to their families. I know sometimes, it’s very hard but it’s easier when they know because they know that, for us to have a mother, this is what we have to provide for our mom.

Q: And what are your hopes for your children?

A: I wish to see my children grow and attend tertiary education. And I want to see each one of them on their first day at work. And really that will mean to me that they are independent, that they are able to cope in life. Then I will know that I have done my part.

Q: Is there any other message you have for the rest of the world, to the Global Fund?

A: For the rest of the world and especially the Global Fund, it will be to say so many people have been put into treatment in Swaziland through their assistance. So I just wish they will continue because really there are people who do not have money, who cannot even buy one single medication, who cannot buy medication that cost 2 Malangeni. So really it would make a difference if people would continue to support this kind of treatment and… because of my work I meet these people. I meet people who say, I would rather die, you know… if ARVs would not be given to me I would steal them. So, for me, if people will stop, if we stopped, if the world would stop giving Swaziland this kind of assistance, really it would be like they are saying, let's scrap off Swaziland of the rest of the world. So thank you.

The Global Fund and (RED) staff return to Swaziland

You may remember that my Global Fund colleague Rosie and I went to Swaziland in November last year to spend some time with the team at NERCHA, Swaziland’s National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS, which is the organization that puts Global Fund and (RED) money to work in their national program, and to visit some program sites.

We are doing a follow-up visit, this time, accompanied by Karen from (RED)’s London office. Karen and I will be arriving on Monday morning, and we plan to spend the week visiting some of the people we met on the last trip, as well as some sites around the country and in the capital Mbabane, which we hadn’t seen before.

We have been working over the past weeks with the NERCHA team to finalise our schedule, and are very excited about spending more time getting to understand how the different activities – prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child, counseling and testing, diagnosis of HIV, anti-retroviral treatment – are carried out, and most importantly, getting to meet more of the wonderful people who are making this happen. Orphan care and support is a particular focus in Swaziland, given the exceptionally high rate of HIV prevalence – 33% among adults – and the large and growing number of orphans with little means of support, either financial or emotional. Swaziland has 70,000 orphans out of a total population of 1 million people – this is a tragically high number.

Some of the places we will visit are the Mbabane antiretroviral treatment clinic, some "neighbourhood care points" which is where orphans come during the day to be fed and looked after, and the homes of Vusi and Thembi, two HIV+ people who have shared their stories with us and who we hope to follow over time.

Though this is Karen’s first trip to the country -- she has not yet had the good fortune to experience Swazi kindness and hospitality – but we are both really excited about spending time with individuals, both program clients and healthcare workers, and getting to know and understand the experiences they are going through in this dramatic and inspiring fight.

--Adele
The Global Fund

Bono joins Rep. Barbara Lee in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in Oakland, CA

Appearing with (RED) co-f0under Bono, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of Oakland, California, sported an INSPI(RED) shirt last Friday during her meeting and press conference in Oakland to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic in the city. She invited Bono to the Bay Area to educate the public about the rising HIV-infection rates in the area.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Bono drew a parallel between poor countries in the developing world and low-income communities in the United States, saying both feature local communities without resources to address the challenge and individuals overwhelmed by poverty and lack of opportunity."

To read more about event in Oakland and view photos, click here for the San Francisco Chronicle's article.

Bono to guest edit Vanity Fair

Bono, co-founder of (RED), will bring African issues to Vanity Fair this July as its guest editor. "We need to get better at storytelling," Bono told the New York Times. "We’ve got to get better at telling the success stories of Africa in addition to the horror stories. And this magazine tells great stories."

Read about Bono guest editing Vanity Fair at nytimes.com.