At the Center’s annual Gathering to HEAL (Helping End AIDS in Our Lifetime) Breakfast September 28, we honored Ruth Ann Russell, heard Justin Levy speak, and celebrated the legacy of Ann Fort on what would have been her 100th Birthday. Friends and family posted a $15,050 challenge to replenish the Ann Fort Kenya Fund that is helping to educate almost 40 post-secondary AIDS orphans. The Center is within about $3,600 of achieving the goal!

In September, 126 girls from Kaurine Primary School in Maua, Kenya, received reusable pads, along with appropriate training. Over 1,000 kits were made & distributed thanks to Center donors.

Lack of access to menstrual products can result in 5 days of missed school per month, leading to lost educational opportunities. Quest for funds to purchase supplies can prompt sexual exploitation, even HIV.

A packet of sanitary pads costs $1, but 36% of Kenyans live on less than $1.95 per day. In fact 65% of women & girls are unable to afford period products. For $25 the Center helps a girl for two years. This includes not only products but necessary educational seminars. 

At a recent Interfaith AIDS Breakfast in New York City, sponsored by the World Council of Churches and UNAIDS, the theme Putting Children First was highlighted. 4% of the persons living with HIV in the world are children but 17% are dying from preventable deaths. Children especially fail to be tested and treated.  Less than half of those infected receive life-saving antiretroviral medicines. 

“This failure to put children first is a moral outrage,” commented Center Executive Director, Don Messer. "In India, Kenya, and Rwanda the Center always prioritizes the needs of children and youth."