posted on December 1, 2005 01:13:32 PM new
Thank you Ron. This is from one of my favorite charities, KeepAChildAlive.org
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Introduction
There are nearly 3 million children living with HIV/AIDS today, nearly all of them in poor countries in Africa and elsewhere. Each year over 700,000 more children are infected with HIV. Roughly half die before the age of two, and most of the rest die before reaching school age.
In the U.S. and other wealthy countries, antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) have transformed AIDS from a virtual death sentence to a chronic, manageable disease. But over 95% of all people with HIV/AIDS live in impoverished countries that can't afford these medicines. At least 6 million people with HIV/AIDS in poor countries are in urgent need of treatment. But only 400,000 are getting it—less than 7 percent of those in need. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the epidemic has hit hardest, only 100,000 people have access to ARVs—just 2 percent of those in need. And even fewer children are receiving treatment. This is the gap that Keep A Child Alive is trying to fill—and it’s a big one.
It’s also important to remember that most children with AIDS eventually become orphans. Over 14 million children have lost one or both parents to this disease. That’s as many as every child under five in America. Keeping their parents alive is one of the best things we can do for children with AIDS. And, of course, treatment for pregnant women can prevent more kids from becoming infected in the first place.
Keep A Child Alive is a unique campaign that offers you the opportunity to provide lifesaving AIDS medicines directly to children and families with HIV/AIDS. For just a dollar a day—or a monthly contribution of $30—you can help save the life of a child or a parent who can’t afford essential treatment and care. A dollar a day. That’s spare change for most of us. Probably less than you spend on coffee each morning. A lot of us can come up with $30 just by skipping dinner out—or ordering in—one night a week. And making a small change in your own life can make an incredible change in someone else’s. It can actually save a life.
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An intelligent deaf-mute is better than an ignorant person who can speak.
posted on December 1, 2005 02:03:06 PM new
Thank-you Washingtonebayer. It's a mess in Africa. If you can't donate, at least write nasty letters to the drug companies who, instead of donating AIDS medications, they charge them (Africa) half price. How totally shameful when they make record profits each year.
posted on December 1, 2005 02:50:33 PM new
Hwahwa, are you serious? Most of the AIDS spread in Africa is a result of rape. You should read up on how bad it is over there.
posted on December 1, 2005 03:00:57 PM new
Hwa - simple - because placing blame does not get you anywhere. It does not care for a parentless child or keep an infected mother from passing the disease on to their infant. You can sit around and lay all the blame you want. Personally I'd rather do something that is actually constructive. Besides - where exactly do you think the condom machines are in a villages that barely even have food.
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An intelligent deaf-mute is better than an ignorant person who can speak.
posted on December 1, 2005 03:19:11 PM new
Fenix, that reminds me of something our former Prime Minister Cretien said when he visited Africa. He said he couldn't believe there were no phones available so the villagers could call for help when they were sick. To make matters worse, he asked if there was any way they could get cell phones.
posted on December 1, 2005 03:25:24 PM new
If it werent so sad, that would be damn funny Krafty. Reminds me of my former tagline.... If it's really common sense, why do so few people have it?
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An intelligent deaf-mute is better than an ignorant person who can speak.
posted on December 1, 2005 03:31:30 PM new
It is poverty the likes you have never seen.
Where I lived prostitution was rampant.
Families from neighboring Chad would bring their 10 year old girls across the borders to prostitute them. They crippled their children from birth in some instances, so they could earn a wage by begging, tied to a dolly on wheels for life.
Poverty where there wasn't a bird chirping in the trees, because they would be shot down with sling shots for food. Still born babies were handed to their fathers to take to the river for burial..I could tell you stories that you couldn't possibly imagine.. Maggie
posted on December 1, 2005 05:23:49 PM new
some one ran a regression model back in the 80s and said this virus has been around for over 100 years.
Look,primitive society contrary to popular belief,is a conservative society where everyone knows what everyone is doing.
What is the chance of spreading the virus in the village?from mother to child,to close family members,thats pretty much it.
And in a primitive world,people die of other illneses before AIDS manifest itself.
Then comes the westernisation where western companies discover resources be it lumber or minerals and decide to explore them-here comes the roads and the truck drivers,the truck drivers are the ones responsible for spreading AIDS far and furious.
What do you think sprout up on the highway-motels,bars,rest stops and prostitutes.
You want to know the latest on dry sex-what is your definition of dry sex?
A prostitute can get twice as much if she can make her passage dry and tight,and this is how she does it-sit in a pool of brine to dry it and insert herbs to tighten it ,or in some places soil soaked with baboon urine will do the trick.
yes,she gets twice as much like 3.95 dollars if she offers dry sex and dry sex will lacerate her to make it easier for the virus to penetrate and for her to pass the virus to her customer.
Such is life in modern Africa.There is no such thing as every one sews like mad or set up call centers.
posted on December 1, 2005 05:40:45 PM new
By the time it is on the cover of Times,there wont be a continent called AFRICA.
Think deeper,to live in the modern world,you need modern skills.
I am surprised Clinton does not know that,he is a very smart man?
cell phone for everyone ??
how about adding extra calcium and vitamins to their school lunch?
what about soft Charmin toilet paper to wipe their ass??
/ lets all stop whining !! /
[ edited by hwahwa on Dec 1, 2005 05:42 PM ]
posted on December 1, 2005 06:05:18 PM new
hwahwa - Some who haven't read just how aids HAS spread throughout their continent...are laughing...rather than learning it's true.
I've also read that aids was passed from village to village/community to community because in order to find work, in the mines, the men were taken far from their homes....stayed there for long periods of time and brought the virus' back to their villages/communities. And by traveling truckers too, yes.
Also wanted to praise you for your vast knowledge of different cultures and some of their 'different' practices.
I'd read years ago about this 'packing' process, you've described that they do to women. Matter of fact I was sharing it with a friend not that long ago. I just couldn't recall what ingredients they had used to tighten themselves. But that's it...just as you stated. It was being used in areas around the Nile [river] before the brides were presented to their husbands.
So....until and unless the people of Africa get a clue and start using protection...the hiv/aids virus will continue to take their lives. And that's NOT the fault of the drug companies either.
It's called personal lifestyle changes ....necessary for their survival.
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
posted on December 1, 2005 06:26:22 PM new
::And in a primitive world,people die of other illneses before AIDS manifest itself.::
Que? Do you even understand what AIDS is? AIDS in and of itself is not a disease that kills anyone. AIDS weakens the system allowing for other opportunistic diseases to strike.
I've mentioned before that I lost a very good friend years ago. Technically he died of colin cancer which had metastasized in his lungs and was spreading thruout the rest of his organs. But the reality is that the reason his 32 year old body was sustible to the cancer was that his immune system had been weakened by the virus. He did not even know he was positive until he went to the doctor because of intenstinal problems. that was when he found out that he was not HIV positive, he had full blown AIDS with a T Cell count of 80 (normal is 1000+). You could not tell from looking at him that he was sick other than he had dropped some weight which we thought was a result of the intestinal problems. He passed a year later... six months longer than doctors gave him when he was diagnosed.
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An intelligent deaf-mute is better than an ignorant person who can speak.
[ edited by fenix03 on Dec 1, 2005 06:29 PM ]
posted on December 1, 2005 06:31:41 PM new
BTW - When Krafty referred to the former Prime Minister and cell phones, she was not talking about Clinton. He is a former President. She was referring to the former Canadian Prime Minister.
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An intelligent deaf-mute is better than an ignorant person who can speak.
posted on December 1, 2005 06:39:29 PM newAnd in a primitive world,people die of other illneses before AIDS manifest itself.
I took that statement to mean because hiv/aids can be dormant for up to 10 years....many things could take these villagers lives before they're even aware they have aids....or are hiv positive.
At the medical center when our aids patients came for treatment...many died of pneumonia....a direct cause of aids...as they couldn't heal like a normal person would with the proper medications. And many lost their lives to that same pneumnia.
posted on December 1, 2005 06:51:45 PM new
It is the African leaders in one of those AIDS conference who said they worry more about other diesease which take life before AIDS,what is that river blindness disease ??
Yes,in South Africa where men are hired to work in mines-gold mines,diamond mines,they have prostitutes at nite and when they are too sick to work ,they just sent them home to their wives and they pass the virus to their wives.
There is also another custom where the unmarried girl who stays at home is allowed to have sex with the brother in law,think of it,who else can she have sex with ?not the father or brother or uncle,but someone not related to her by blood,and this will avoid showing preference to any single man in the village,and relief her of her needs.
They said someday AIDS situation in India will surpass the entire continent of Africa.
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on December 1, 2005 07:07:18 PM new
The Pnuemonia is called PCP (Pneumocystis Pneumonia). Although it used to be the most common cause of death among infected persons, part of the drug coctail now includes medications directed at fighting it in people whose count falls below 200-250. It is what killed Queen singer Freddy Mercury.
For those who watched American Idol last year and caught the amazing acapella performance by Bo Bice in the final weeks, PCP is also what killed Ray Gillen, the orignal singer of the song "In a Dream" and really brought the dangers of the virus home for many in the hard rock community.
Recently there have been signs of a weakening of the strength of the virus. Some believe that this is because of the effects of todays drugs on the DNA of the virus but one hypothesis I found interesting is that it is an "evolutionary adaptation". Basically, the point of any virus is to grow and replicate and its efforts were being hampered by the quick deaths of it's hosts. I'm not sure if I quite buy into it but it's an intriquing theory.
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An intelligent deaf-mute is better than an ignorant person who can speak.
posted on December 1, 2005 07:18:42 PM new
Fenix, your favorite charity sounds interesting and i hope that they are able to help alot of people that are really in need of it and i hope that alot of people donate to it. But i wonder if you decided to donate to them on a regular basis and send them $30 a month, would they just allow your charitable donation to be accepted and not hound you for more?
Back in the early 1980's i had a pretty good job and i decided that i would donate to the Christian Childrens Fund. It was of those donation funds that all you had to do was to donate, i think it was $10 a month if i remember correctly and then they'd send you a picture of a child and update you as to his/her progress and you'd be sorta a part of the kids life. So i signed up and sent in my $10 intending to continue it on a monthly basis and then all of a sudden they inundated my mailbox with pleas for more and it really turned me off on the whole thing so i stopped. It was obvious that they were spending, probably $9.50 of my monthly donation on printing and postage costs to try and get more donations from me, as well as from others and most of my donation wasn't even getting to the children, as i thought it was intended to be done.
This is what i wonder about your favorite charity but i hope that it isn't that way and the money actually gets to the ones that really need it. I understand that they have administrative costs and some of that has to come out of the donated money but surely most of the donations should go towards helping the unfortunately poor people that are in need of it.
posted on December 1, 2005 07:41:01 PM new
I'm on a monthly cycle and I have not been hounded. I get info every now and then but nothing that I feel is intrusive or overt. Most of the info is via email which they say they use to keep down administrative costs. They state that 97% of individual donations are put towards purchasing the drugs (the 3% is mainly merchant account fees). Actual operating costs are covered by corporate donations.
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An intelligent deaf-mute is better than an ignorant person who can speak.
posted on December 1, 2005 07:52:17 PM new
Sounds good, Fenix. I just wish i was better off financially now and so i'd donate to them.
That damm Christian Childrens Fund is nothing but a big scam and after my bad experience with them it left me feeling kinda cynical towards charitable organizations ever since.
posted on December 1, 2005 10:09:29 PM new
Fenix, isn't that nuts? And these are our leaders.
Hwahwa, that's awful. I know it keeps getting worse and from what I've read, the government leaders are partly responsible because they won't distribute the medicine. Everybody's baked.
posted on December 2, 2005 06:18:29 AM new
someone shrewdly pointed out that all these charity works for children whether it is asking them to be a good scout selling cookies or fullfilling their last wish is TO KEEP THE ADULTS GAINFULLY EMPLOYED!!
My nieghbor kids will come to the door and ask us to buy 2 for 1 dining card,sweets,or whatever for 15 dollars,how many grown ups have 15 dollars cash in their pockets to dish out everytime the doorbell ring??
Do the organisers realise how much 15 dollars can buy in a dollar store these days??and how many of us have been shopping at the dollar store ??
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on December 2, 2005 06:29:32 AM new
The way to stop AIDS is not to pass out condom or medicine like crazy at every corner of the streets,it is to go after the behavior which causes AIDS.
Ever wonder why the Muslims have such strict codes-they dont eat pork,they pray several times a day,women are all covered up,thieves have their arms chopped off and any one who commit adultery is stoned to death.
All these codes seem too much today,but back then it must have served a purpose.
