Picture of the Week

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work . . . (and) the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Fred Buechner

St. Joseph’s Celebrates World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is about raising awareness and fighting prejudice. The World AIDS Day theme for 2010 is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’.

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS.

For St. Joseph’s Home World AIDS Day is more personal, as 33% of our little patients are HIV positive. St. Joseph’s opened an HIV/AIDS medical ward in 2002. The medical ward (Sunflower) has been underfunded since the first infant arrived in 2002. The Ward cares for 25 HIV/AIDS infants and toddlers who are placed in stage 3 or 4 of an opportunistic infection.

The Sunflower HIV/AIDS medical ward has been over capacity since the day its door opened.

St. Joseph’s must raise funds to support the difference between the limited government subsidy for 20 cots and the actual cost of the services provided free of charge to the poor children and their families. We must also raise money to support the five additional cots in the medical ward which receive no government subsidy.

On World AIDS Day, please consider making your support a personal matter as well, by making a donation in support of our efforts to give children a second chance at a healthier childhood.