Raising Awareness and Support for AIDS Orphans in Africa
by Bruce Lyndes
Lela Edgar with some of the children she met during her trip to Kibera, Nairobi in March. Photo by Mia Collis.
AIDS is a devastating disease that not only ravages its victims, but also shatters the lives of the victims’ loved ones. Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa, where more than 15 million children have been orphaned as a result of the AIDS pandemic. By 2010, it is predicted that there will be nearly 16 million AIDS orphans in Africa.
The problems facing AIDS-orphaned children in Africa are manifold.The loss of a parent to AIDS can have serious consequences for a child’s access to basic necessities such as shelter, food, clothing, medical care, and education. A study conducted in Uganda showed a high occurrence of psychological problems among children orphaned by AIDS. Anxiety, depression, and anger were found to be more common among AIDS orphans than other children.
As this tragedy unfolds, people around the globe are mobilizing to bring some relief to these children. And Plymouth State alumna Lela Edgar is one of them. Edgar, a California-based actress and filmmaker who earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1996, recently founded Make a Change, a small nonprofit organization created to raise awareness and assistance for AIDS orphans in Africa.
Finding joy in spite of hardship. Photo by Mia Collis.
“The overall goal and mission [of our group] is to increase global consciousness on the issues of the African child orphaned by AIDS,” Edgar explained. The group’s short-term goal is to assist a group in Machakos, Kenya, that is planning to build a village for AIDS orphans but lacks many of the resources to do so. “Make a Change intends to develop a microenterprise program that will provide resources for sustenance and revenue to the community so they can move forward with their plan,” Edgar said, adding, “These people are not looking for handouts, they are looking for opportunity, and opportunity is exactly what Make a Change intends to provide.”
Once the microenterprise program is established, Edgar intends to film a documentary on the AIDS orphan pandemic that she hopes will “stir people to action through the realization that the riches we have here in the States enable us to do so very much with so very little.”
Finding joy in spite of hardship. Photo by Mia Collis.
“The reality is, most of what I have comes from being born into the wealth of the United States,” Edgar, who grew up in Connecticut, noted. “This country is wealthy in terms of available resources, such as public schools, housing assistance, and food stamps.We have opportunity here in the States.”
For children born in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi where Make a Change is doing outreach work, there is no opportunity; only profound need. “They don’t have a toilet available to them. They don’t have more than half a meal a day, and that’s if they are lucky. They sleep on crowded mud floors and most suffer with illness that goes untreated,” Edgar said. “I see my role as gathering the resources I can reach here in the U.S. and funneling them into Africa where we can directly do some good.”
Edgar hopes that her work will inspire others to lend their support to Make a Change. “It would be fantastic if the PSU community would step up and help make this happen,” she said.
Donations of any amount are welcome, tax-deductible, and will be immediately put to use by Make a Change. “Because Make a Change is so small and so hands on, [we] can provide immediate feedback to where your money has gone,” Edgar noted. In some cases, the group can even put donors in touch with those they are supporting.
To learn more about Make a Change and how you can help, visit online at www.myspace.com/makeachangeproductions or e-mail Edgar at lelaedgar@sbcglobal.net.
