Define the Wishlists that your organisation will be promoting at the Giving Exchange.
Buddies for HIV Positive People
In many cases people are scared to attend support groups. At the Aids Resource Centre we have established an alternative in the form of a “buddy”. A buddy is somebody who can give you emotional and spiritual support and be there for you when you need somebody to talk to, or when you need a shoulder to cry on.
Being a “buddy” requires you to be sensitive to the needs of others, yet firm enough to ensure that you are not taken advantage of. We have many people living in isolation and giving up hope, but with a buddy on their side that loves, supports, encourages, people can live positively with HIV/Aids.
Companies to start sustainable community projects
Waiting on hand-outs seems to be the latest trend in our country. Those living with HIV/Aids are being treated as if they are worthless and have lost their value to society. At the Aids Resource Centre, we want to move away from the “hand-out” system. We wish to give people a hand-up by putting in place sustainable projects that empowers them to re-establish their self-worth and the need for them to become self reliant and self sustainable.
Having a profitable business who would plow a certain percentage of that profit back into the projects would ensure that nobody waits for hand-outs, but with the once-off donation would ensure the well-being of many.
Graveyard & Bush Project
There are people living in the graveyard in Maitland and in the bushes in Mitchell’s Plain. Many of them are on anti-retroviral treatment and some are receiving a government grant when their CD4 count goes below 200. When their CD4 count goes up again, the grants are taken away and these people who have now gotten used to this money are back to being penniless, causing them to stop taking medication, creating a never ending cycle.
It would be great if people would come and help clean, paint shacks and make it livible. Help is needed from people who could help start vegetable gardens and also start a sustainable project.
Food and accommodations
ARC runs a Free HIV Testing and Support Centre. We are often in need of food, travel and accommodation or accommodation monies (R140 per week) for those that test positive and find themselves ostracised.
Define the volunteer requests that your organisation will be promoting at the Giving Exchange.
We require people to help with the following:
- A marketing and fundraising person to have a brainstorm session with us
- A web company to help re-vamp our current website
Define your Do It Day proposal.
“Let the reality move you”
We hear so much about HIV/Aids in the media, also at work. Just about everywhere people are talking about condoms, prevention and knowing your status. We would plan a day to visit institutions, and people who are openly living with the virus, not only the healthy ones as shown on television, but real live people who are sick and dying.
Hearing people talking about it and seeing for yourself are 2 totally different things. The only way in which to get an idea of the impact HIV/Aids are having on our communities, are going to facilites where people are begging for their hand to be held, to be given a hug and to be told that they are worthwhile and valuable.
For many, living with this virus is a death sentence. They are thrown out of their houses, ostracised by family and communities because of the stigma.
Let the reality move you and take you to those living with HIV/Aids. Make the disease real and put a face to the virus.
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