Our Mission

African Community Health Inititiave (ACHI)

Provide basic health care services to those lacking access to such care in both rural Nigeria and urban Namibia.

These services include:

*Overall Physicals (including Fasting Glucose levels, Vitals, HIV/AIDS testing etc..)

*Medication Management and Maintenance programs *Disease Management

*Health Education that addresses disease prevention, hygiene and nutrition

*Consultations and referrals

Mount Sinai

A program started by Katutura State Hospital Nurse Christa Biart-Vega, who works in the ARV (antiretroviral) pediatric clinic, Mount Sinai provides HIV counseling, health education, well baby checks, formula, water and sippy cups for 105 babies and their HIV+ mothers. If the child is tested HIV- after 6 weeks of being breastfed, the hospital or clinic refers them to Christa. At this point it is important to discontinue breastfeeding: replacing breast milk with formula means that the baby will remain HIV-. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funds Christa has to limit the number of mothers and babies in her program because it is a commitment to feed each child for six months. Christa did receive land in Katutura for the clinic, but lacks the funds to begin building. Not only will this building be used to continue the program that Christa has started, she also envisions it as a safe place for moms and their children, as well as a hospice for children with AIDS to peacefully die in instead of out on the streets. Your donations will go towards formula, sippy cups, water and overall costs. More money means more women can enroll in the program and with your help Nurse Christa will finally be able to have a building to go along with her amazing, life saving program!

Family Hope Sanctuary

FHS is a community based program run by Abigail Maposa located in the extremely poor settlements of Hakahana. FHS’s program helps in two ways: first, to empower women, most of whom are HIV+, TB, single mothers who are raising orphans; and second, through its school readiness program. This program reaches children who are not in the school system and provides them with an education and a safe place to stay. More importantly, the heart of FHS is its kitchen: it feeds hundreds of children each day, which for most is the only meal they will get that day. Lacking the most basic necessities of life, all of these kids are grateful for such a meal, and are in dire need of a formal education before it is too late. Your donations will go towards education, food, clothes, shoes, water and other necessities. Amazingly, $20 sends a child to school for a whole year (books and uniforms included)!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Extended Vacation

Hello folks,

Just a quick update! We're currently stuck at the airport in Amsterdam due to the huge cloud of volcanic dust hanging around Europe. We've had quite an adventure getting here. First, we missed our flight in Windhoek, because we were late, and we had the wrong flight time. Our itinerary said the flight was at 7:05pm, while it was really at 6:05pm. The itinerary didn't account for the time change a few weeks ago. We managed to get on the only other flight that night - into Frankfurt. We got into Frankfurt only to find out about the restricted travel. We've been so out of the loop, that we didn't even know that a volcano erupted! We decided to try and get to Amsterdam, on the rare chance that our flight was still scheduled. Also, we knew we'd be heading out of Amsterdam eventually, and we had a lot of time on our hands. So we took 3 trains and finally got to the Amsterdam airport, on time too! Unfortunately, our flight had been cancelled. Currently, we're sitting at the airport, waiting to get an update on the ash issue and hoping to at least get our return flight home scheduled. We're guessing that we'll be here about 2 days, though we're hoping to get back sooner. There are worse places to be stuck than Amsterdam, but we're all extremely tired and don't relish the idea of wearing the same clothes for another 3 days. We're praying for the wind to change so we can leave soon, but we probably won't make it home for a few more days. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Hopefully we'll see you soon. ;-)

~Annie, Linda, Mary, and Genny

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