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Nicaragua: Sharon, Chelsea and Jessenia, girls from the orphanage in Puerto Cabezas.
Nicaragua: Sharon, Chelsea and Jessenia, girls from the orphanage in Puerto Cabezas.

India: One of the girls in the slum, showing off the chalk we had given her.
India: One of the girls in the slum, showing off the chalk we had given her.

TeamAfrica

TeamWorks International has begun the steps to focus our efforts towards getting involved with the rapidly growing pandemic of HIV/AIDS in sub Saharan Africa. According to AVERT.ORG, an international HIV and AIDS charity based in the UK, there are now over 25.8 million men, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS, 3.2 million of those having been infected in 2005 alone. The world infection rate is at 1.1 percent, and yet the sub Saharan region of the world has a 7.2 percent infection rate. This region also has the highest death rate in the world, losing 2.4 million people to HIV/AIDS last year alone. It is women in the sub Saharan that account for 57 percent of the infected.

These sad statistics are enough to show why there is a need. Millions of children are being orphaned, losing their parents to the pandemic. TeamWorks will send Matt Gerber, for the month of June, to tour Ethiopia and Uganda, and learn first-hand the need that is present. There will then be meetings, presentations, and speaking engagements, to expand the TeamWorks understanding of how we can become effectively involved with the relief efforts in Africa. By November of 2006 the goal is to have TeamWorks long term initiatives in Africa approved by our board, and the first Africa group to travel in June of 2007. Our priorities are to study the social implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, in relation to the orphanages and the adolescent heads of household. Refugee healthcare and community development are also going to be studied, along with the implications of US consumer habits on the coffee growers of Ethiopia (70% of the country’s exports).

As we watch the statistics spiral seemingly out of control, it is difficult to know what just one individual can do to help. By building relationships, we learn that everyone’s unique talents can be expressed, as we form a group of willing participants. When we work together, we can accomplish many things. Check in for Matt's blog about his trip, see updates on our progress in this endeavor, and join us in the fight against HIV/AIDS.