Foreign Aid Making a Difference in Zambia

You know How I'm always talking about Aid and hating it and then defending it, then hating it, then saying more could've been, then saying its not good for economies..the 'Aid business'.. Well, heres one example of Aid being put to good use, If all aid was put to good use like this, I would be all for it!...

Miyon Kautz, World Vision Zambia
I have been paying taxes my entire adult life. But I never saw those tax dollars put to such good use until three years ago, when I moved to the large, land-locked African country of Zambia. The 12 million people here are beautiful, generous, caring and, tragically, 1.1 million of them are living with HIV. An estimated 600,000 children have lost at least one parent to AIDS.

Zambian families and communities have always cared for those in need -- the sick, the dying, the orphans. It's ingrained in their culture. But over the past few decades, AIDS has challenged the capacity of Zambians to provide this care. There have simply been too few healthy adults to care for so many in need.
That's where my tax dollars stepped in. Under PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), established by President Bush in 2003, the U.S. Agency for International Development funds a World Vision-led consortium to help people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. I have the privilege of working in that program.

The innate generous spirit of the Zambians has been a catalyst for the success of the program. Some 20,000 volunteer caregivers have been recruited, trained and equipped to care for 300,000 sick and vulnerable children and adults. These caregivers give sacrificially of their time and their meager assets and food to care for the sick... and care for children who are left alone because their parents have died.
These caregivers are not alone. The project is supported not just by the U.S. government, but by the Zambian government as well as private donors in the United States. Corporations and foundations have provided funding, along with mosquito nets so that caregivers can help protect their clients from malaria. Churches and businesses in the U.S. have "Caregiver Kit" builds, filling orange boxes with simple yet vital supplies like cotton balls and soap so the caregivers can do their job. We've even received donations of bicycles, to help the caregivers travel long distances to see their clients.
I wanted to see what it was like to be a caregiver -- so I cycled with Rodney and Mary to visit their clients in a rural area part of Southern Zambia. I thought I was in pretty good shape, but Rodney took off and kept up a strong pace. I jokingly said "Wow, where did you get all that energy?" And he proceeded to tell me how he once was nearly dead. But through his caregiver, he is alive, thriving, able to take care of his children -- and wants to give back to others because of what his caregiver did for him. He was one of many people I've met whose life has been transformed because of this program. Dead to very much alive. Amazing.
The program is working. Before the program started, the HIV prevalence rate was 15.6 percent; recently, that has dropped to 14.3 percent.
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