Wednesday, 16 Jun 10 - 20:45You can count the seeds in an apple ..

Chapter 11 of Destination Malawi by Chris

It's been a few months now since David and Charis Baker returned home from Malawi after serving and equipping the beautiful African communities in the villages there.

Their story is amazing, encouraging and inspiring to everyone who has ever harboured a desire to make a difference. Even the small support team in the Act4Africa office in the UK, along with the Trustees have been thrilled at what Charis and David have achieved.

All this through prayer, faith, trust, love in action and a desire to serve.

It's difficult to find the words to express our gratitude.

It's difficult to comprehend the impact they will have initiated through African generations;

"You can count the seeds in an apple, but who can count the apples in a seed?" Anon

This is what your support for our Act4Africa trainers can achieve: Sustainable. Repeatable. Effective. Life enhancing. Dignity preserving Training of African Trainers.

In truth, anything we say here about the wonderful Bakers is going to appear a little weak and two dimensional .. far better therefore that we allow you to see for yourself the fruits of their labours; their (and your) prayers; their living and active faith. Be inspired.

Thank you David and Charis

Malawi Act4Africa Trainers from Chris Grieves on Vimeo.

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Sunday, 06 Jun 10 - 20:00Information and Hope

Chapter 12 of Martin (CEO) packs his bags .. by Martin Smedley

"What are Act4Africa doing for people like me?"

That was the challenging question from Dennis, a young AIDS orphan, on the streets of Kasese, Uganda.

Our amazing Act4Africa Kasese team (Ruth and Alice pictured here) were interacting with mechanics and taxi drivers, delivering messages about staying safe from HIV/AIDS; I was proudly watching how skilled they have become, when this teenager came up to me and stopped me in my tracks.

A week later, our Jinja team were giving out gifts to over 30 young children who through no fault of their own, are all HIV positive; for these innocent young children, HIV/AIDS; has been passed on to them by their infected parents. It's often a battle to convince people that HIV is a cause they should get involved with and support because there's often an element of blame attached.

So how do we help re-address this judgement?

We like to think of it as building a fence at the top of a cliff, so that rather than mopping up the mess after they have fallen, people stop falling off all together. It's approximately a tenth of the cost to prevent the problem in the first place rather than clearing up the mess at the bottom; through education, our work aims to stop any more children contracting HIV.

TASO is a superb Ugandan organisation which provides support to those already infected with HIV/AIDS. I had the privilege of meeting their programme director whilst in Kampala, Uganda.

Those of you who have seen our DVD will have seen an interview with the delightful Sarah, who is living positively with HIV.
Sarah had worked with our Jinja team and is now based in the TASO HQ. Infected because of her ex-husband's infidelity, Sarah is another example of why it's not simply a matter of dismissing HIV as a person's own fault. In fact quite often it's the complete opposite and women are being disproportionately infected.

I saw this powerful statement on a young girl's t-shirt: "I am empowered, I decide my future".

With our new gender empowerment programme, Act4Africa are now well placed to equip the adults of the future with information and hope.

It's what we do.

Martin x

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Tuesday, 01 Jun 10 - 20:30Leeds students join Walk of Hope

Chapter 2 of Walk of Hope 2010 by Laura Henderson

A big thank you and congratulations to the Leeds Metropolitan University Event Management students who put together an event to raise money for Act4Africa's Walk of Hope early in the year, not the brightest of days in the 2010 calendar so far, but everyone remained upbeat and on a high as they took on the challenge of 5.8miles around the very fabulous and stately Harewood House grounds.

You can see the ISpiTV video clip below, and thanks to Kayleigh Dowson for her involvement in organising this.

For more information on how to join the Walk of Hope download our fundaising pack >>Here<<

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