Life in the shadow of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is brutally difficult for parents and children.

Orphaned healthy children are far less likely to attend school, even to grow up: the mortality rate of children under five spikes when their parents are gone.

Children actually infected with the HIV/AIDS virus will die by the age of two; a small percentage of survivors may live to be ten; but, without medicine, their brief lives are full of suffering.

Fewer than ten percent of adult African HIV/AIDS sufferers -- and an even smaller percentage of children -- have access to the expensive and complicated life-saving medicines.

But, there is hope.

A variety of organizations are importing the miraculous drugs into Africa, helping to build health-care institutions, and saving lives.

Other organizations are nurturing and raising orphaned children; some even facilitate adoptions of HIV-positive orphans to America.

Still other organizations help destitute people find decent work.

Here are a few organizations of which I have first-hand knowledge and vouch for enthusiastically. Their bookkeeping is ethical and transparent, and you may feel free to contact them about offering time as well as financial assistance.

Vital big-name organizations are listed at the bottom of this page, but here, first, are seven smaller heroic groups engaging with the HIV/AIDS crisis.

WEAV: Woven Ethiopian Arts Vision

http://www.weavafrica.org

On frequent trips to Ethiopia, I met numberless women crocheting, and countless men weaving on hand-built wooden looms, yet - though they worked long hours every day - they could barely feed themselves and their families.

"Do you think you could make a kippah, a yarmulke?" I asked a young woman one day. In her mid-20s, she was an orphan of AIDS, trying to support her younger brothers so they could stay in school.

"What's a kippah?" she reasonably replied.

On my next trip to Addis, I brought along a handful of hand-crocheted kippot to show her.

"Oh!" she laughed. "We call those, 'Muslim caps."

"Let's NOT call them Muslim hats and we're in business," I said.

For several years, I personally solicited orders for the beautiful kippot she turned out; we used them at our daughter Lily's bat mitzvah; my nephew Ethan Greene wore a hand-made Ethiopian prayer-shawl. I carried cash to the several young women now crocheting them, and I carried colorful kippot by duffle-bag back to the U.S.

Last fall, on my book tour, in Orange County, California, I met long-lost first- cousin Sharon Greene. We'd not seen each other for probably 40 years. She is a businesswoman, an art collector, and a knitter. She has a circle of knitting friends. I told her about the Ethiopian kippot.

"Give me this project," Sharon said. "I can do this."

She and her friends created this magnificent website (still in progress) and have made it possible for growing numbers of Ethiopian artisans to enjoy an American market for their unique work.

The weavers are delighted to fill specific requests regarding design and color. By choosing these kippot for your upcoming bar or bat mitzvah, wedding, or other celebration, you'll include both unique art and a tremendous act of lovingkindness at your celebration.

Non-religious wear, like scarves, shimmering like rainbows, also are available.

AHOPE for Children

http://www.ahopeforchildren.org

One of the first and only homes specifically for HIV-positive orphans in Ethiopia, AHOPE has become a model orphanage, brimming with happy children, art projects, music lessons, soccer teams, and drama workshops, while all children receive state-of-the-art medical care under the aegis of WWO (see below). My son Lee Samuel spent four months in Ethiopia in 2006 at the age of 18, organizing an orphanage soccer league, including AHOPE boys and girls teams.

Individual sponsorships of children are welcomed, and AAI (Adoption Advocates International) coordinates adoptions for AHOPE children.

AHOPE GIRLS TEAM - At first the keeper on the girls' team refused to wear her uniform as she is an avid Manchester United fan.	AHOPE BOYS TEAM - Their handmade jerseys were designed by the children to resemble the uniforms of Britain's Arsenal.
Lee Samuel at AHOPE with Ermias	My son, Seth Samuel, at AHOPE with Sinteyahu

The Stephen Lewis Foundation

http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org

Founded by the U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, with programs in 14 African nations, focusing especially on mothers and grandmothers. Stephen Lewis, whom I have the privilege to know personally, is the single most eloquent, piercing, and honest voice in the world on this subject, and his foundation does not dilly-dally or fabricate. With low overhead, it goes straight to the frontlines, while he continues to assail the rich nations for their inaction.

World Wide Orphans (WWO)

http://www.wwo.org

Under the leadership of Dr. Jane Aronson, New York City pediatrician, WWO fields health programs for children in Ethiopia, China, Ecuador, Bulgaria, Viet Nam, Serbia, Russia, and Azerbaijan. In Addis Ababa, the WWO's Family Health Center offers free state-of-the-art medical care to 400 HIV-positive adults and children, including Mrs. Haregewoin's children. WWO offers medical training for Ethiopian professionals and coordinates medical outreach with other American foundations and government programs. For orphans and other vulnerable children, there is an arts & humanities program in partnership with Ethiopian artists, writers, and dancers. NEW: WWO Academy, with pre-K, K, and Grade 1, free for orphans and vulnerable children, opening this fall. I KNOW many of the children sustained in life by WWO.

Yohannes, an HIV-positive orphaned boy, holds a photo of himself from six weeks earlier, before he began receiving anti-AIDS medications through WWO.

Ethiopia Reads

http://www.ethiopiareads.org

In 1998, Ethiopian-American children's librarian Yohannes Gebregiorgis flew from his home in San Francisco with the gift of 10,000 children's books from the San Francisco Public Library to fulfil his dream of bringing children's literature to the children of Ethiopia. In a land where adult non-literacy nears 60 percent, Ato [Mr.] Yohannes has opened the first free public children's libraries in the country, the first school libraries in the country, and the first Donkey Bookmobile in the world. In April 2007, I spent a week with Yohannes and his enthusiastic young volunteers, and I walked about with the Donkey Bookmobile. Changing children's lives one book at a time is a uniquely rewarding journey and Ethiopia Reads welcomes your books, your contributions, and even your visits, if you'd like to drop by and read stories to children. Read my October 2007 GOOD HOUSEKEEPING feature story about this wonderful organization.

The Task Force for Child Survival

http://www.taskforce.org

Campaigns against polio, malaria, river blindness, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, injuries, and violence. Brilliant, dedicated, globe-trotting Atlanta-based team of medical professionals.

A physician examines the eyes of a young Yanomami Indian who resides in an onchocerciasis (River Blindness) endemic area in Brazil.

The Task Force has overseen the delivery of more than 500 million treatments to prevent onchocerciasis (river blindness) as is suffered by this elderly man.

The Firelight Foundation

http://www.firelightfoundation.org/

It could be said about orphanages: "If you build it, they will come." If an orphanage is the only nearby place that ill and destitute parents can find food, medicine, schooling and safety for their children, they will place their children there. The Firelight Foundation sustains orphaned and vulnerable children in 12 African nations in non-orphanage settings by strengthening extended families, schools, and communities through grants to local and grassroots organizations. I know the founders and staff of this organization; I keenly respect their insights and vital work.

Ethio-American Friendship School

Mr. Masresha Kibret, Director
masresha_kibret at yahoo.com

A small private school in Awassa founded by Yohannes Gebregiorgis, creator of "Ethiopia Reads," The Ethio-American Friendship School is academically the top school in this central region of Ethiopia and reaches out with scholarships to orphaned and vulnerable children.

Its young director, Masresha Kibret, (BA, economics, Addis Ababa University, diploma in music, Addis Ababa School of Music, and graduate of Teachers College in Education) is very ambitious for his stuents. "Our students' academic performance is the highest in the region," Masresha told me. "When the scholarship students enter, they have a hard time, but we hired a person to help these children with their studies, with cleanliness, and with contact with their families." (50 paying families withdrew their children when Masresha began admitting AIDS orphans, because of the stigma, which dealt the school a severe economic blow; but most of those families have returned.)

The Ethio-American Friendship School is the only school in central Ethiopia with a library, with a student-run newspaper ("The Lion and the Eagle") (referring to the symbols for Ethiopia and for America), with a drama club, a literature club, a nature club (they plant trees), a music club, a charity club, and an animal rights club! Children from the school read a public manifesto of animal rights and have asked men on the street to please stop beating their donkeys. The presence of girls in the school is significant in a region in which girls' education lags profoundly behind boys', because the parents require the girls to be home to carry wood, fetch water, cook, care for younger children, and prepare to marry young.


Journalism club members interviewed me, in English! "What book made you famous?" asked a girl, and a small boy asked, "Do you like Bush's policies?"

The children are lively, bright, curious, ambitious. Their playground is hopping with monkeys! Despite its name, the Ethio-American Friendship School has few American friends other than its founder. The teachers and children would love to have "sister schools" in the U.S. and pen-pals. Contact Ato [Mr.] Masresha directly if you have ideas about how to help support his programs.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

http://www.jdc.org

Food, support, health and education programs for needy Jewish communities around the world, including the Beta Israel people of Ethiopia. JDC also supports women's education and water development in Ethiopia. JDC supports Dr. Rick Hodes' work at Mother Teresa's Mission in Addis Ababa. (Dr. Rick appears in my book and often feeds me dinner.) He treats destitute people presenting with heart disease, spine disease, and pediatric cancer, and he sends patients abroad for world-class spine and heart surgery. At home he is raising more children than anyone I know (other than myself); a combination of adopted sons and foster children. Most have dire medical diagnoses like cancer, polio, and spinal tuberculosis.

Gifts to JDC can be earmarked to Dr. Rick Hodes for specific projects. 100% reaches him, without administrative fees.

IN THE NEWS: "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." Over five months, CNN viewers nominated 7,000 people from 80 different countries to be honored by CNN for their extraordinary contributions to humanity. Dr. Rick Hodes was named one of the 18 finalists. Click here to view CNN's video about Dr. Rick: CNN.com Video

Funds can also go to the Morton Meyerson Family Foundation in Dallas http://www.2m.com to reach Dr. Rick, again without administrative fees.

At the Hodes seder: L-to-R: Yosef Samuel, Don Samuel, Helen Samuel, Lily Samuel, Fisseha Samuel (on chair), Lee Samuel, and a Hodes son.

Rick Hodes and sons celebrating Hanukah. (Rick is a big fan of funny hats.)

Other essential medical, lobbying, research, activist, and orphan care organizations