Having just returned from Uganda and Kenya I found myself at times lost for words at people’s bravery and strength in the face of adversity.  This a blog entry about one of the issues I encountered, Aids in Africa.  As you read this Aids is taking lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, like a plague it is taking parents, children and with it hope.  So far over 17 million have died.  At least 25 million will follow.  What became apparent was that people in some areas even with the increased levels of education and awareness are becoming increasing complacent about it and in many areas Aids is once again on the rise.  This is of course not the case in all areas, there is much effort going in to counter this but more needs to be done but what? 

HIV and AIDS – International Memory Project (IMP)

The Memory project began in 1997 to support children who were facing the prospect of losing their HIV positive parents.  Parents in Africa don’t often leave behind photo albums or diaries when they die due to the countries strong oral traditions as well as poverty.  But for children that are very young this leaves them with little knowledge of their family history.  Over a million children in Uganda have lost their parents and in 2003 over 150,000 deaths in Kenya were as a result of Aids, resulting in many children being raised by their grandparents.  Many are being encouraged and taught how to write their memoirs in a “memory book” so that family history and traditions are not lost forever.    For more information please follow the links:

http://www.healthlink.org.uk/projects/hiv/imp.html

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3866928.ece