Although The Butterfly Tree is making great progress with a number of projects in the Mukuni Chiefdom, more HIV funding is needed. HIV and AIDS in Zambia is pandemic, one in six adults are living with HIV. Every person has been infected or is effected by this devastating disease. The government has a number of initiatives but not enough HIV funding is getting through to the remote villages.
The Butterfly Tree provides funds for an under fives’ feeding program, the first to be initiated in Zambia. We provide formula to replace breast milk in mothers who are HIV positive, preventing mother to child transmission and this has also encouraged more women to come forward to be tested. Unfortunately formula is very expensive therefore we are looking into goat rearing to produce milk, mothers who have benefitted from our program are keen to get a sustainable income to provide HIV funding to help others in the same situation.
HIV funding: Two young boys from Kafekwa on the under fives’ feeding program
The Tusolwe Lwangunko HIV/AIDS Support Group Zambia, is run by a group of volunteers providing workshops, voluntary testing and sensitization programs. They rely on support from The Butterfly Tree to provide HIV funding and we have bought them goats to give them a sustainable generating income. I have worked with these people, they do an amazing job, based at Mukuni Health Centre, covering a vast area of the Chiefdom, encouring the communities to be tested and remove the stigmatism, the work is invaluable and we need to be able to expand on this.
HIV funding: HIV positive mother proudly presents her healthy baby
The most devastating is the number of AIDS orphans, over 400 in Mukuni alone and many more in surrounding villages. The only way to overcome the problem is to provide education for the children and teenagers. I believe they are the generation who could make the change. In Zambia the longevity is 34, they need our help to prevent them losing the next generation. By educating the pupils about the dangers of HIV and AIDS they will have a chance. We provide TMEs educational DVDs in each of the schools we operate and have distributed copies all over the nation. To help us educate these children you can, help via our orphan sponsorship scheme, for only £95 per annum (£8 per month).
Of all our programs supporting the HIV projects, education is one of the most essential, without this none of our other projects can be effective. We need to operate in more clinics, spread more awareness and provide more HIV funding to reach out to these rural people.
