Message passed on from David Gonzalez (RESPECT Europe) and Sandrine Cortet (RESPECT Canada)

"I need to ask you a great favour. The family of our RESPECT's DRC coordinator has disappeared somewhere in Burundi. I would be grateful to you if you could somehow past this message to your colleagues of UNHCR in the field, in DRC and Burundi, in case something can be done to help him. You can trust me this is an urgent message, and the person who writes it has been collaborating with RESPECT for more than two years already helping a lot of kids to be introduced in our letter exchange program with European and American students."

He is a long time, reliable and dedicated coordinator for RESPECT. Based in Uvira, DR Congo, but using Bujumbura, Burundi post office, he's been coordinating the letter exchange program for 2 years and more than 1500 refugees has been introduced to pen pals thanks to his steady efforts. He spent both great time and his own money to make sure the letters reach their recipients. Today, he encountered serious problems in Burundi and needs to be helped to find his 3 children and wife who vanished in the Bujumbura area recently. I feel terrible about him and it would be wonderful if we could help him in his search.

I have purposely edited out his personal name and information, however if you have connections in the areas of DR Congo, Burundi, and Malawi please contact me so that we can help my colleague and dear friend.

Things are moving along so quickly I can't even update my website fast enough with all the new found connections. The project is really developing and so many have stepped forward with support and even thier time. Thank you all.

This project will become larger and greater because of your help.

www.yourhelp.4t.com

Greetings all,

I am a fourth year Anthropology student at the University of Victoria and am involved with the international movement to slow the spread of HIV and AIDS. With the help of RESPECT International I have created an educational program to cover four countries based upon a leadership model that is locally created and welcomed. The proposed project partners also include GPER (Benin), AAI (Ethiopia), ETHARC (Ethiopia), ARTHUM (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and CELA (Tanzania).

The proposed program will begin in January 2006 and run for nine months until September. At present a daily schedule for eight of those months have been outlined however some issues, such as transportation, seem to be much harder to organize.

The projects general goals are to further HIV/AIDS education and prevention through an interactive and sustainable framework with a secondary focus of the importance of primary education. The first stage of the 2006 project will take place in Ethiopia with orphan care and outreach work through Adoption Advocates International and The Ethiopian AIDS Resource Centre. Second, five refugee camps will targeted for HIV/AIDS training and community gatherings in Eastern D.R.C. The goal will be to inform refugees and internally displaced peoples about issues in regards to HIV transmission and prevention in order to prevent future infections. The following month and a half will include outreach work through educational programs in two refugee camps in the Kigoma region of Tanzania. Finally, a month long 30-person training program will certify locals in HIV/AIDS education, which will be followed up with outreach work within the two nearby overpopulated refugee camps.

Our specific goals are to increase HIV/AIDS information (transmission, prevention, care, and treatment), and to increase HIV/AIDS awareness. The programs have been developed over the past six months by local organizations with tailored programs that are cultural sensitive and appropriate. As STI’s are a correlated co-factor for HIV infections an emphasis on treatment and education on these infections will also be included. Mr. Lumbu Sembeya from GPER (Benin) will head up the programs secondary focus of primary education. In each area we are determined to train and educate a group of respected and motivated individuals who can promote and continue the teachings upon the departure of the programs.

The programs financial details have been broken down by each stage and have no outside funding beyond person contributions. The program costs differ for each location ranging from a relatively cheap $1000 USD/month program in Ethiopia to a $5000 USD/month program in Benin. The total estimate for the 9-month project is currently about $16,000 (USD). At present I am attempting to fund the project myself, however rising costs are out of my personal reach as a university student. The proposed projects of 2006 will be a personal life-changing experience and possibly a life-saving experience for those involved with the programs. For more complete and detailed information about the 2006 projects we have prepared a PowerPoint slide show presentation, this presentation can be emailed or shown in person.

I am looking for interested peoples to get involved with our program. You can email me directly at logan_cochrane@hotmail.com

Thank you all for your time and I hope to hear from you soon!