End of year/project analysis and recap

Our event went on Saturday with relatively no problems. It was fun to see everyone come out and play to raise money. It was especially rewarding to see all of our efforts pay off. Creating an organization and entire days event wasn’t easy but was certainly worth it.

Although our organization is new and has not yet fully established itself as a 501(3)(c), we worked closely with other organizations that helped us achieve our goals. We worked with organizations such as USAWA, FHI and IDYDC. With an estimated death rate of 1.6 million, orphaning over 11 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa we wanted to do as much as we could to assist and raise money for these organizations. As we took on creating this group we set up specific issues we wanted to address.

African youth health and well being was our top mission. We channeled our efforts on this issue through the Iringa Development of Youth, Disabled and Children Care (IDYDC, I will call them the ID). The ID’s mission is:

IDYDC exists to improve the living standards of the disadvantaged people (needy children, youth, widow, widowers and poor people) in Iringa region through establishment of rehabilitation and vocational centers; facilitating establishment of saving and credit scheme, training education on HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, gender, child labour, children right and organizing drama and sports.


Heatmap of HIV/AIDS infection- gray = no data available.

Map of Africa coloured according to the percentage of the Adult (ages 15-49) population with HIV/AIDS. Colour chart present in image. Countries coloured white have no information available. Data from UNAIDS - the majority of percentages are from 1999, although several are more recent (2001, 2002).


Key:

     0%-2%

     2%-5%

     5%-10%

     10%-15%

     15%-20%


     20%-30%

     No data

Note, that Tanzania is one of the "hotter" countries. We worked with the ID to especially target Tanzanian people/youths.

One of the primary and more successful ways the ID attempts to reach youths is through the game of soccer. In Africa soccer is very popular and can bring many people together in a team/community environment. In 2004 YouthNet worked with ID to form Edusport which “integrates sports and reproductive/HIV/AIDS education. The sport of choice in Edusport is soccer. This is partly were we got inspiration to have a soccer based fundraising event. Through this organization we were able to utilize already established means of outreach to better the lives of youths in Africa, thus achieving one of our primary goals.

In addition to this cause, another root of our efforts was in general HIV/AIDS prevention/education. As said, over 11 million children are left orphaned due to parents and guardians dying of AIDS/HIV. If we are able to help reduce the deathly effects, further transmission or help prevent the disease all together, this would reduce the number of AIDS fatalities and thus reduce the number of orphans. This again reaches back to our top goal as well. For these efforts we reached out to the USAWA and FHI, an organization that also works closely with USAID.

More information can be found at this link: http://dccfaa.org/about/fhi/



In looking at the issues it is tough to really comprehend the sheer numbers of people this disease effects. Although the death tolls are high as is, an estimated 22.1 million are said to be living in the Sub-Saharan African region at the end of 2007. Without proper education or means of prevention/protection, these people can continue to spread the disease to others, exponentially increasing this number. Sexual education is scarce and many communities report sexual activities with multiple partners, even at younger teen ages. Additionally, with every death comes a string of after effects, from widowing to orphaning. It leaves many out on the streets worse off than before because a family cannot support themselves without one of the spouses or children no longer have any parents to provide food and shelter for them. It staggers economic growth. Disrupts social networks and societies as well as creating gaps in local communities. These are all conditions and effects we aimed to help ease and at minimum bring awareness too. With so many people living relatively happily in the United States, even 1 dollar from half of the entire population would generate about 150 million dollars. Even 1% ($150,000) of that would be enough to buy supplies and provide education for nearly and entire country.

We hope to continue this event in future years with collaboration from these organizations, so we may further support and aid African Youths and better the lives of our global neighbors.


Pictures from the event, coming soon...

For more facts and input, check Tymon's report here.

Sources cited: CIA World fact book, UNAIDS, UNAIDS epidemic update 2007, Avert.org: HIV and AIDS in Africa