Assisting HIV Orphans and Children with Cerebal Palsy in Soweto Township, South Africa

 CAUSE & AFFECT FOUNDATION VISITS

 SOWETO TOWNSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA 

TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO PATIENTS OF 

THE SOWETO HOSPICE

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 Soweto, one of the townships where South Africa's black residents were forced to live during the apartheid era, was at the epicenter of the liberation struggle for equality in the 1970s and 1980s. Though it's well known for being the birthplace of two Nobel Peace Prize Winners (Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu), it is still home to crippling poverty, economic marginalization and a very high HIV rate.

Many terminally ill patients come to the
Hospice Wits - Soweto in order to receive medical care or if there is no hope for recovery, at least death with dignity. The hospice has a full team of doctors, nurses and social workers, as well as in-patient care for 26 adults and 10 children at a time.
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They offer palliative care, nursing services and spiritual care. They are an integral part of the community, not just because of the end-of-life care they offer but also because of their team of social workers who make house visits to many of the families whose relatives have passed through the hospice. While meeting with these social workers, Cause and Affect learned that many of the families receiving assistance face other dire needs - not covered by the hospice's mission. We set out to assist five of these families.                                                                                                                                             #1: After being affected by HIV through a blood transfusion in Mozambique, Thebisile became very ill and nearly died while in the hospice less than two years ago. She's made a marvelous comeback but couldn't attend school without a school uniform and school supplies. For $85 we purchased shoes, uniform, backpack and full set of school supplies for this sweet 10th grader. She is so appreciative of the help (as are her parents). When we asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she didn't hesitate. "I want to be a social worker." Seems she understands the important role social workers have played in her life!
                                                                             

 #2: These three HIV orphans are living with their over-burdened grandmother in very tough conditions. 15 year-old Siphumelelo, his brother Siyabonga (11) and his sister Lufono (not pictured here) lost their mother to AIDS, but are anxious to continue their education. Siphumelelo wants to be an engineer and young Lufono wants to be a teacher. We purchased all of them full school uniforms so they are ready for the school year. Beautiful smiles dreaming of a better future.
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#3:Karabelo was born with cerebral  palsy. She is now 16  years-old and living in a tiny ramshackle shack with her parents, brother and sister. There is one bed for the 5 of them. Since she cannot swallow her food, her mother feeds her through a feeding tube in her stomach. When we saw her mashing up the food by hand, we asked if she had a blender to do this work. The mother calmly replied that though a blender would save her a lot of effort, they didn't have money to buy one. We rushed to the mall, bought a $40 blender and a few hundred diapers to make this family's life a bit easier. Be sure to watch the video to see Karabelo's magic smile. She steals the show. 

                                                                                                                                                                #4: Goitsemang is another 16 year-old with cerebal palsy. Despite his condition, he also has a wonderful sense of humor. When asked what the family needed most, they told us that diapers are very expensive so we went  out and purchased enough to keep the family supplied for a few months. 
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#5: Life is not fair. Lehlolonolo, this wonderful 7 year-old and his sister Reabetsue (12 years old) were born with HIV. Soon thereafter, their parents died of AIDS. They are living with their grandmother in very bad conditions here in Soweto. The hospice makes sure they get their meds to control their condition, but they were in dire need of school uniforms so they could attend school this year. 

Fulfilling the wish lists of these 5 families cost less than $500. There are so many families in need, but Cause and Affect is overjoyed to have been able to help these five.

Special thanks to the wonderful staff at the Soweto Hospice for their devotion to assisting these families on a daily basis. It is local heroes like them that keep us inspired to do whatever we can!

To support projects like this please make a tax-deductible contribution to Cause and Affect here, using credit card or Paypal.

As always thank you for your donations. As you can see, every dollar is making a difference!

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Helping Tsunami/Nuclear Disaster Victims in Fukushima, Japan

Please join the cause by making a paypal donation here.

WATCH FIELD REPORT VIDEO HERE

Like many concerned citizens around the globe, I was shocked to see the scale of destruction that followed the Tohoku Earthquake of March 11, 2011. The ensuing tsunami killed over 19,000 people and damaged over a million buildings. The region of Fukushima was devastated by the disaster and over 400,000 people lost their homes.





The explosion at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant created an ecological disaster, forcing more people from their land. The evacuees initially sought shelter in community centers and were then relocated to temporary shelters.

WATCH FIELD REPORT VIDEO HERE

Nearly three years later, most of these people still live in these shelters.  The lack of jobs and income means that many are living day-to-day, forced to accept government assistance and help from family members in other parts of Japan. This is a very tough adjustment for the proud, hard-working Japanese people.



When I arrived in Japan to teach English in a high school in August 2013, I reached out to a variety of organizations that were helping the victims of the Tohoku earthquake in order to assess what forms of aid were being delivered. In searching for a real hands-on approach addressing the everyday lives of those displaced by the disaster, I was directed to a project called the Save Minamisoma Project (SMP), founded by a New Zealander businessman living in Japan. Every two weeks since March of 2011, SMP has been shipping truckloads of food and supplies (much of it donated) to the evacuees in and around Minamisoma, which is one of the cities of the Fukushima Prefecture.

With only $1,000, Cause and Affect financed the delivery of more than 3,000 lbs. of food and supplies. We collected donated food, purchased more and loaded up a giant truck in Tokyo. We then drove 6 hours north to Minamisoma and distributed the goods to the residents in need, most of whom lost their homes to the tsunami or were forced to move due to radiation.

In each of the six communities, we the recipients who had received their coupon a month before, lined up to receive their food and supplies. By the time we were done, more than 800 people living in 355 households received onions, potatoes, mushrooms, apples, water, cereal and soup to more. While very pleased to have been able to lend a helping hand, the sad reality is there are upwards of 290,000 people still living in evacuation shelters or temporary shelters in these communities.

WATCH FIELD REPORT VIDEO HERE

We spoke to some families that have been shuttled from one community to another. They just want some stability in their lives. Many have lost faith in the Japanese government and most doubt they will ever be allowed to return. Entire communities have been torn apart, as the shelters have thrown random people together. While it is obvious they have managed to help each other out, it is clear that they yearn to go back home. Sadly, most will never be able to rebuild.

Luckily, Cause & Affect was able to provide some much-needed assistance to the people of Minamisoma. They are VERY appreciative to know that people from all over the world had united to help them recover from this disaster. Thank you to all of our donors and please join the cause by making a paypal donation here.

Assisting Urban Refugees in Bangkok: Helping the "Forgotten People"

Though there are officially 5.5 million urban refugees who have fled their home countries to settle in foreign cities, the actual number is much higher. In most cases, these refugees have fled political persecution or ethnic violence in their home countries. This population, most of which are women and children, represent one of the most vulnerable populations in the world. Most lack access to services like education, health care and government assistance. In addition, they are often subject to xenophobia and daily discrimination.
 WATCH INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO HERE and GIVE here
In Southeast Asia, due to the ongoing ethnic tension in Myanmar (in what has been labelled the world's longest-running civil war), over a million people have fled their homes. Hundreds of thousands of these people (especially those from Karen and Shan ethnic groups) have fled their country seeking protection and refugee status. While most are living in United Nations-sponsored refugee camps in northwestern Thailand, those families that have applied for official asylum status can settle in Thailand's capitol city of Bangkok, where there are more educational and work opportunities. While they wait for their paperwork to be processed, they are provided with 6 months to one year's worth of assistance from the UN: money for rent and food and assistance getting their kids into school. But these families face many challenges:                                                                                   WATCH SHORT INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO HERE
1) Due to their inability to speak good Thai, they are discriminated against and the kids have trouble adjusting to school, both academically and socially
2) They face discrimination on a daily basis, which makes the children feel inferior and makes it very hard for the parents to find work to support the family
3) After the UN assistance runs out, they are left on their own, often with no income to buy food
4) Since they do not have official refugee status, they are technically stateless people and are often randomly stopped on the street by Thai police, who throw them in jail if they do not have papers. In many cases, this means the sole provider for the family (on their way to or from work) squander in jail for months before being deported.
  WATCH SHORT INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO HERE and GIVE here
Seeking a way to help these "urban refugees," Cause and Affect searched for an organization that was effectively assisting these "forgotten people" in Bangkok. Thanks to the help of our mentor Marc Gold (founder of 100 Friends Project), we discovered the amazing In Search of Sanuk Project. Founded by Atlanta native Dwight Turner (who has been living in Bangkok for 4 years), this project supports numerous refugee families from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other countries in a myriad of ways.

The first way is by providing accommodation and food assistance, what they call the "Survivor's Project." Last year, Cause and Affect visited some of these families and was treated to a very special home-cooked dinner by Mary, a Sri Lankan mother of three who has been in Bangkok for three years. We pledged to return to help.

They also help victims of trauma and torture through their "Esteem Project." By providing life-skills training and job placement assistance, they are able to help these overlooked, abused and often discarded women and girls, helping them find the courage to rebuild their lives and restore their dignity.  On our most recent visit, some of these teenagers showed their culinary skills as they prepare to become professional cooks. With great local cooks guiding the way, these young chefs seem to be on the right path! Cause and Affect has assisted culinary projects in the past and recognizes the value of encouraging under-privileged youth to become professional cooks.
  WATCH SHORT INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO HERE and GIVE here
Another great project is the "Thrive Project" which addresses the lack of engaging educational activities many of these urban refugee children face. Basing their approach on using play and reading, teachers are able to better prepare these kids for Thai schools and ensure each child develops self-confidence and a sense of achievement they can draw upon as they grow.

Upon our second visit to In Search of Sanuk Project, Cause and Affect learned that the project was looking to supplement their "Thrive Project" with art supplies and children's books, so we jumped to action, purchasing a myriad of supplies (crayons, markers, scissors, glue, paper, glitter, etc.) as well as children's books we got a great deal on.  Seeing as how the food and toiletries stocks were low, we also purchased lots of soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, female sanitary pads, cooking oil, rice, noodles, etc.                          
         WATCH SHORT INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO HERE and GIVE here

              

With only $500, we were able to make a profound impact. This is the beauty of the "micro-philanthropy" model: a small amount of money can accomplish so much!

Special thanks to my father Allan and step-mother Gina for their generous donation that made this project possible. You have made a big contribution to help these wonderful but forgotten people. Much love from Bangkok!

To support projects like this, simply click here to make a Paypal donation on our website. 
                                                                                                                                                                 

Helping Seniors Regain their Dignity

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL -- In the midst of poverty, all too often the senior citizens suffer the most, due to of their lack of income, medical access and opportunity. This is also true here in the favela shanty-towns of Rio de Janeiro, where tens of thousands of seniors struggle to survive. With a desire to make a difference, Cause & Affect first sought out a local non-profit organization already doing effective work to address the situation. Working with our wonderful local partner IBISS, we discovered Novo Olhar aos Idosos, which is located in the Vila Cruzeiros neighborhood we have been concentrating on this year, as seen in out last two blog reports.
SEE VIDEO HERE

This project trains social workers to visit 25 seniors in need on a weekly basis. Once a week, they arrive to take the senior to the doctor, to the market, to the bank or just spend time to provide companionship, as many of these people suffer from neglect and loneliness. For those that live with their families, the social workers help train these families to address the needs and wishes of their elderly family members.

When Cause & Affect expressed our desire to help, we visited several of the seniors and it became obvious there are MANY needs to address. Some of these people are living in sub-humane conditions, such as 84 year-old Dona Augusta (upper right), whose roof had sprung a nasty leak, soaking her bed and tiny home in water. The ensuing mold created a horrible stench and very unhealthy living conditions. We quickly had the roof repaired and as the video shows, Dona Augusta is happy to report her home and bed are now dry.

We also followed the lead of the Make-A-Wish project, granting her decades-long wish by buying her a plane ticket to visit her family in Bahia, in the Northeast of Brazil, as Dona Augusta had migrated to Rio 40 years earlier and had never had the money to visit her long-lost family. We put her on a flight for the first time in her life and as she explains in the video, once she took off into the blue sky, she just wanted to reach out and touch the clouds. Ah, the child reawakens...
SEE VIDEO HERE
For Dona Belinice, a 95 year-old woman very dear to our hearts, home improvement was also the major need, so we rebuilt her patio that had been destroyed years earlier by rain so that she can now sit outside and actually get some fresh air and sun.
For a woman confined to a dark little home, you can imagine what a refreshing joy it is to now be able to enjoy the outdoors. As she told us, "The sun brings life." Gospel, indeed. We also installed some hand-rails in her home so she can get in and out of bed and go to the bathroom without falling, as had happened numerous times earlier. As she blessed me (see video), the strength of her wonderful spirit was on full display.

For other seniors, we provided reading glasses and dental prostheses. Looking at the before and after smiles, it is obvious how much appreciated our assistance was in improving these wonderful seniors lives. Cause & Affect spent a total of $2,600 to address these many mini-projects. Special thanks to Peter de Jong, who visited the seniors' homes with us and passed along a very generous donation!

"Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members."- Pearl S. Buck

Thank you to all of our wonderful donors. To help more seniors like this please give here.

Continuing Fight Against Malnutrition in Guatemala

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
Last year, we reported from Antigua, Guatemala where we addressed the epidemic of malnutrition in Guatemala. Our contributions were important in helping Guatemalan children recover from this condition, which manifests itself due to their family's lack of medical care and insufficient income. It is hard to fathom that half of the country's children suffer from chronic malnutrition - imagine if half of the kids you knew simply did not have enough sustenance to develop in a healthy manner!

Malnutrition manifests itself in stunted growth and lowered IQ scores. Half of Guatemalans are of Mayan descent and due to poor land distribution and a variety of other social, economic and political factors, most of these people live in abject poverty. In these indigenous areas, chronic malnutrition affects 80% of children under five years of age!
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

(When interviewed on Capture Your Flag program earlier this year, I spoke about the debilitating effects of malnutrition on childrens development and the most effective ways to address this epidemic. To watch the interview, click here.)

Last year, one of the ways Cause & Affect helped address this issue was by providing assistance to Casa Jackson, an amazing clinic that was created to house and rehabilitate babies that are severely malnourished. The babies receive around-the-clock care from medical professionals and are put on an intensive feeding schedule in order to regain their health. Once their weight has improved, their families take them home again and receive nutritional guidance as well as visits from social workers to assure the children develop in a healthy manner. Though the diapers and milk formula we purchased have been used up by now, the industrial blender we purchased is still being used around the clock to liquefy food for the older babies.

Upon our return to Guatemala to check up on Casa Jackson, we discovered the clinic still had some urgent needs to address, so we jumped to action. The first task was to buy new mattresses for the babies’ cribs, as the old ones had been donated a long time ago and since they were very thin, they were not very comfortable for the babies, nearly detrimental to their physical development. We sought out the thicker, sturdier variety and ordered 16 of them for the center. Our second task was to repaint the cribs, as the paint has been peeling off. Lastly, we were asked to provide curtains for the center, so as to keep the sun out of the babies’ eyes.
As you can see from the video, we bought the fabric, contracted a tailor to sew them and then hung them ourselves. For the paint, the curtains and the 16 mattresses, Cause & Affect spent a total of $1,283. I think you will agree the clinic is much better-off after our two visits!

Another follow-up project this year involved the welfare of a darling little boy named Jose Anavesca. When Jose was admitted to a social welfare hospital in Antigua (Obras Sociales) 18 months ago (see top photo), he was a year and a half old yet only weighed five pounds! He was close to death but in the last two years, he has fought back with force and his magical smile has broken the hearts of nurses, doctors and volunteers like my mother (see photos here).

The good news is that over the past two years, Jose has finally put on enough weight (now about 15 pounds) in order to go back to live with his family! For a boy that spent over half of his life in a public hospital, this home-coming is the greatest thing that has happened in his life! The downside is that Jose still faces health challenges. He was recently diagnosed with diabetes insipidus, which is caused by the inability of the kidneys to conserve water, which leads to frequent urination and pronounced thirst. If inadequate fluids are consumed, the large amount of water lost in the urine may cause dehydration and high sodium levels in the blood.
In order for Jose to be able to survive at home, he needs to take a special medicine on a regular basis and the sad fact is that his family cannot afford this medicine. So, in order to reunite Jose with his family, Cause & Affect has teamed up with a number of volunteers in order to raise funds to purchase the medicine to allow for Jose’s homecoming. We purchased $400 worth of the medicine which we presented to the family when they took Jose home.

Our projects here in Antigua were spearheaded by my mother, Linda Champagne, who has been volunteering at Casa Jackson and Obras Sociales since our initial visit in 2009. Now retired and living in Antigua, her compassion and devotion to the babies of Guatemala has served as a guiding light for Cause & Affect’s operations in Guatemala and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with her in the years to come.

Please help support wonderful projects like these through our website by donating here.
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EMPOWERING AT-RISK YOUTH in Inner-city Chicago

"HELP THEM MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND WATCH THEIR SELF-ESTEEM GROW"

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Being a product of Chicago's public schools, it saddens me to see how
gang violence and the drug trade is taking so many young lives in my hometown. With so many kids victimized by the violence and the hopelessness, I have been eager to find a way to make a difference on behalf of Cause & Affect.

WATCH THE VIDEO:
John Dudley is one of the "local heroes" I recently discussed in my interview on the "Capture Your Flag" program. As a social studies teacher at Collins High School in Chicago's rough-and-tumble Lawndale neighborhood, Mr. Dudley started the "Warriors With a Future" boys club. Now in their second year of operation, this group of at-risk youths have been engaging in service projects, tutorial programs and even traveled to New Orleans to help rebuild houses destroyed by Katrina flooding. Bravo!


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Before the school year let out last June, I spoke to the Warriors
about my philanthropy projects around the world. The boys were fascinated by the videos and stories; in fact, they took such an interest in the work, that they expressed a deep desire to engage in a similar project. We discussed the problems facing their community and decided to devote our attention to Pacific Garden Mission, a local homeless shelter. The boys designed the project: they called the shelter, set up our visits and explained our objectives. We met with the director in person to assess their immediate needs. When we were told about the budget shortfall and need for food supplies, we jumped into action and returned to order $1,000 worth of needed food. A few days later, the Warriors came in to volunteer. They helped make the food, set the tables and serve the food to the homeless people.

Once you watch THE VIDEO, you will see what a formative experience this was for the boys.
"I just wanted to show we care."
"It made me feel good about myself."

The homeless shelter and their hundreds of recipients benefited from our involvement, and the "Warriors with a Future" have been enriched beyond words. Overall, this domestic project was a huge success for Cause & Affect and everyone involved. Thanks for your support. Please help support projects like this by donating here.