Great.com interviews American Foundation for Children with AIDS about their self-sustaining programs in Africa

Spirit Rosenberg from Great.com interviewed American Foundation for Children with Aids as part of their ‘Great.com Talks With…’ podcast. This series is an antidote to negative news stories that aims to shed light on organizations and experts whose work is making a positive impact on the world.

Supporting Livelihoods for Sustainable Futures

With the increased demands of COVID-19, resources are being diverted towards various emergency funds and many organizations providing critical services have suffered a loss of financial support. Tanya Weaver from American Foundation of Children with Aids (AFCA) describes their holistic approach to supporting families in Africa with HIV+ children. When AFCA was established in 2005, there were no pediatric formulas available for the medicinal needs of HIV+ children. The medicine has advanced since then, and thus their mission is to support families beyond emergency relief; by creating self-sustaining, scalable projects which support livelihoods, wellbeing and education.

Fostering Hope and Independence by Transferring Skills

In Zimbabwe, one of the countries AFCA supports, current unemployment rates are at 97% and hunger is rampant. Weaver explains how AFCA works with orphanages, hospitals and clinics, helping them to become self-sufficient through greenhouse projects, education programs, farming initiatives and livestock training. This way, they are moving away from the model of simply providing supplies (which quickly deplete), to a sustainable model which fosters hope, teaches sustainable skills and promotes self-reliance.

Listen to the whole interview to find out how you can help AFCA to scale-up and support more communities with sustainable skills. You can also join one of our volunteer teams or donate to our current campaign. 94% of their fundraising goes directly towards supporting their projects on the ground.

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