[afro-nets] Twana Twitu Annual Gala for Kenya's HIV/AIDS Orphans: June 3rd (White Plains NY)

["Janet Feldman" <kaippg@earthlink.net>]

Twana Twitu Annual Gala for Kenya's HIV/AIDS Orphans: June 3rd (White Plains NY)
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If I told you that by dancing and having a great time, you could save a
child's life, would you? By the time you sleep tonight, 1,440 children 
will have died today as a result of AIDS. And YOU have a chance to stop 
it. Each minute of every day, a child under 15 dies from it. Bosi 
Musyoka and Ndanu Nderi, were just 3 and 12 when their tiny coffins 
were blessed and lowered. Yet they were luckier than most; half of the 
children infected with HIV, die before their second birthday.

"Sometimes, I hate myself," says Mutemi, a Twana Twitu orphan, "I lost 
my parents and now ? because of AIDS, I too might die." Statistics say 
that 640,000 children under 15 are infected with HIV each year. 
Astonishingly, about 90 percent of them are sub-Saharan African. Many 
of them have already lost a parent to the pandemic. AIDS is real. AIDS 
is killing. AIDS is creating generations of orphans.

Yet "children are the missing face of the AIDS pandemic," the UN now 
says. "They are forgotten by the public, who see AIDS as an adult 
disease, and forgotten by leaders who focus on adults when it comes to 
laws, policies and budgets," remarks Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on 
HIV/AIDS.

On the fun-packed evening of Saturday, June 3rd, Twana Twitu  will 
party to turn this tide around at its Fundraising & Awareness Gala.  
While dancing to R&B sounds from The Untouchables or some World Music 
from DJ Beto, and listening to the spoken word of Kahlil Almustafa, we 
will raise funds to enable our continued delivery of medical, 
nutritional, psychosocial and educational support of 220 AIDS orphans 
in Mwingi South District, Kenya. With your help, we will save our HIV-
positive orphans including Mutemi, Nzuna and Muimi. And we will fight 
poverty by funding their education and microenterprising projects.

It is this kind of care that Dr. Susan Hunter, acclaimed author and 
AIDS Orphans advocate, supports. Having co-authored "Children on the 
Brink", the first prototype for community-based care programs for 
children and families affected by HIV/AIDS, Hunter is a proponent of 
structured care. Her book, "Black Death: AIDS in Africa", is described 
as "one of the five best books published on the AIDS epidemic" by the 
London Times. "AIDS in America", her latest book, is impressive and 
bound to "open your eyes and challenge what you think about AIDS in 
America," remarks Alicia Keyes. At our gala, we will honor Hunter with 
Twana Twitu's first Annual Children's Award.

Your help is vital. With it, we can fight the scourge and the 
prostitution, sexual abuse, child labor and homelessness AIDS orphans 
are exposed to. And we can stop our orphans from becoming another 
statistic. Act now by purchasing your ticket to join us at the Crowne 
Plaza, White Plains or to donate to our programs. Together we can make 
this Gala Twana Twitu's most successful ever. A little child needs you! 
For more info: 
http://www.twanatwitu.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=75, 
and write to 
mailto:info@twanatwitu.org.

Mwende Edozie
Founder & Executive Director

--
Janet Feldman
mailto:kaippg@earthlink.net