Umcebo Trust

Umcebo Trust is a non-profit organisation that believes that marginalised people have within them the creativity necessary to make a difference, and aims to establish a studio workspace for people to use and develop their artistic talents as a means of personal and creative development, as well as to generate income. Umcebo is an isiZulu word meaning "treasure".

Real People, Real Progress

Wednesday 18 May 2004 marked the seventh HIV Vaccine Awareness Day. This celebration is held annually following former US President Bill Clinton€™s 1997 challenge to scientists to develop "the 21st century's first great triumph": a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. This year's theme "Real People, Real Progress" embodied a tribute to the thousands of volunteer participants and researchers involved internationally in the search for effective preventive HIV vaccines. The focus of this cross-country event was education and information-sharing.

Civil Society helps in KZN ARV Roll-out

About 90 NGOs in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province have teamed up to work with the government in rolling out anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, in the first structured civil society response of its kind in South Africa, and possibly even on the continent. When the government announced a national rollout plan for free ARVs in September 2003, Cati Vawda, Director of the Durban-based Children's Rights Centre, and a number of her NGO colleagues, quickly realised that "government alone cannot do it".

New database gives orphans of HIV/AIDS quicker access to grants

A new computerised database is giving a number of orphans of HIV/AIDS in a rural town in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province quick access to government foster care grants.

WCRP/HIVAN Forum - Gender and Violence

Programme Director: Pramda Ramasar €“ lecturer in business and professional ethics (Hindu faith). Panelists: Dr Shakira Cassim €“ family GP and members of the Islamic Medical Association; Thuli Hlatswayo -Anglican Church, Moeti Lesuthu - PACSA and Sizwe Mchunu - TAI (Targeted AIDS Interventions).

Call for papers - Multidisciplinary forum of child and youth research, with a focus on HIV/AIDS

HIVAN (Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking) is a research, networking and advocacy organisation attached to the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. HIVAN is convening a two-day forum on the 26th and 27th of November 2004 in Durban and will present various in-house projects which link biomedical and social science research with practice. Other researchers across multiple disciplines in the field of childhood studies and HIV/AIDS are invited to share this platform to present their work. The Forum will be open to both academics and practitioners.

Sinakekele Children €“ Take Good Care of Us

Sinakekele Children is a ministry and Non-Profit Organisation concerned with caring for abandoned babies and children, many of whom are directly affected by HIV/AIDS.

'Buddies' offer emotional support

When Fatima Sayed (not her real name), an HIV-positive mother, is feeling down she knows she can pick up the phone and call her 'buddy', Amina Nordien, who signed up as a volunteer friend and mentor to Muslims living with the virus in Cape Town, South Africa.

Project empowers rural communities to shape own HIV/AIDS programmes

A new project by South African NGO, the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN), will enable rural communities across the country to develop their own programmes to deal with the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Hospice helps patient come to terms with HIV/AIDS

Fifteen years ago, Masindy Apie went to the doctor for what she thought was a sexually transmitted disease. Her doctor tested her blood and told her that she had HIV/AIDS and three months to live.