Looking for South African contacts (5)
--------------------------------------
Lisa Russell wrote:
>
> I'm wondering if anyone has contacts with South African NGOs that
> work with young people who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.
> We have been donated free flights for youth to attend Camp Safe
> Haven on Martha's Vineyard in the States this upcoming April and
> want to insure we get a good number of kids from South Africa to
> attend.
>
Dear AIDS supporters,
I want to thank all of you that responded directly or behalf of a
colleague regarding my interest in finding South African NGOs with
whom Safe Haven can work with for their spring camp program on Mar-
tha's Vineyard this April. I am writing this initial, general infor-
mational message to update you on where we are in the process and
what can be done from your end to begin the steps of identifying
young people who are interested in our program. I apologise for not
writing directly to all respondents, but there were surprisingly and
happily many replies!
First of all, for those inquiring about youth from other African
countries, I'm sorry to say that we are focusing our attention this
year solely on South Africa but would be open to discussing other re-
gions for next year's program. It primarily depends on getting flight
donations to the US. However, I'm open to keeping discussions open
with you during the next year.
The following includes the information I wanted to share with you:
1. As we work with our DC legal advisors regarding Visa issues, it
appears that for time's sake, we will only be able to offer this op-
portunity to young people who are HIV-negative, but whom have a fam-
ily member that is affected by AIDS. As we work out the details with
the embassy, we may be able to have that changed for next year's pro-
gram. Unfortunately, as you know, the American government is overtly
strict when it comes to this issue and it will take time to make
amends but we have done it before.
2. We will be embarking on a two-week speaking tour in the Northeast
US immediately following camp and therefore are interested in finding
young people who fulfil the following criteria:
* Active in their community regarding AIDS education/prevention.
* Speaks English fluently.
* Between the ages of 15-24 (this can be flexible).
* Able to articulate how AIDS has affected their families and commu-
nity.
* Able to miss school for a three-week period.
* Commits to sharing their experience in the US with other young peo-
ple and ASOs in their community.
* Affiliated with an NGO that is willing to collaborate with Safe Ha-
ven for future international and in-country activities.
We are not sure about how many participants will be able to attend.
It depends on the donation. We may ask an adult supervisor to accom-
pany the youth or I may go to South Africa prior to camp to meet the
youth and escort them to the States.
3. Some of the things we will need from the young people and their
affiliated NGO include:
* A two page essay from the youth about why they want to come to our
program and how they plan to do to utilize their experiences to
make positive change in their communities.
* A passport for the youth. I am not sure of the time frame it takes
to get this issued but it should be a consideration now.
* Alot of paperwork for insurance purposes: medical history, media
release, parental release, etc. that will need to be filled out and
faxed back as quickly as possible.
* Financially, the youth will be responsible for any ground transpor-
tation to and from the airport in their own country, and some
spending money. We also ask that these youth bring with them some
items from South Africa that they can share with the other chil-
dren/youth at camp which can educate them about South African cul-
ture. Safe Haven will attempt to cover all other expenses.
In the next few weeks, I should have more information about the
status of the donations and the visas. I will contact you then and we
can get started on figuring out all the details. Meanwhile, if you
need to reach me, please contact me by email or by phone/fax at the
number below. I travel quite frequently so email is probably best.
Thanks again for your interest. I hope this correspondence is a be-
ginning to more collaboration between the youth of US and South Af-
rica!
Best regards,
Lisa
--
Lisa Y. Russell, MPH
International Development Co-ordinator
Safe Haven Project
c/o Awake Beyond Awareness
80 Fourth Avenue, Suite 800
New York, NY 10003, USA
Tel: +1-212-477-1717
Fax: +1-212-477-1736
mailto:lyrussell@earthlink.net
--
Send mail for the `AFRO-NETS' conference to `afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.