World AIDS Orphans Day

On Saturday, May 7, The GlobalTribe Network, along with eight other youth organizations, hosted an international videoconference to mark World AIDS/HIV Orphans Day 2005. An estimated 1,000 young people participated on four continents, including inner city youth groups from Los Angeles, and London and AIDS orphans from Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. The aim of the video-conference was to mobilize young people to work together across borders to combat AIDS/HIV using the Internet and new technologies as their platform.

GlobalTribe's Outreach Director, Alison Fast, produced and moderated the event from Los Angeles. She said the event exceeded her expectations and demonstrated the power of technology to bring people together.

Alison: "What was most rewarding for us was to see the energy and sense of community that almost immediately developed between young people who are literally worlds apart. It reinforces our dedication to using media and technology to create an international community among young people and to engage them in global issues."

Artists and youth orphaned by or living with AID/HIV were able to connect from four locations (Los Angeles, London, Johannesburg and Cape Town). They exchanged presentations about HIV/AIDS – in the form of poetry slams, art, music and stories.

Participants included Avenues/MongrelX (www.mongrelx.org) in London ; Peace Jam (www.peacejam.org) and CRED (www.cred.org.za/organisation.htm) in Cape Town; AFXB (www.afxb.org) and Youth4Life in Johannesburg; GlobalTribe Network (www.globaltribenet.org), PEP-LA (www.pepla.org), ReachLA (www.reachla.org) and Kaos Network. Elsewhere, Transformarte (www.transformarte.org.br), a group of peer-to-peer educators from the slums of Rio de Janeiro connected to the live broadcast and contributed solidarity actions on that day. PLAN USA (www.planusa.org), an organization dedicated to children's rights with alliances in 60 countries, and Access Granted (www.accessgranted.com), a multimedia facility and consulting firm in Asheville, North Carolina, also participated in the event.

Prior to the video-conference, some of the participants watched the film BEAT THE DRUM (www.beatthedrumthemovie.com), winner of more than 25 awards from international film festivals, and the documentary NKOSI: A VOICE OF AFRICA'S AIDS ORPHANS.

The project was funded by AFXB (www.afxb.org), a Swiss-based organization that works with AIDS/HIV in 17 countries, including South Africa.

With just 10% of the world's population, Sub-Saharan Africa is home to more than 60% of people living with AIDS/HIV-some 25.4 million. The most visible consequence has been the rising number of AIDS/HIV orphans. In 2003, there were 43 million orphans in the region according to the United Nations. By 2010, an estimated 50 million children will be orphaned in Sub-Saharan Africa, one every 14 seconds.

Bilge Bassani, CEO of AFXB commented, "We believe that young people have the power to change the course of the disease through knowledge and action. This event on the fourth World AIDS Orphans Day, started by Albina du Boisrouvray, founder of AFXB, was the first step to connect youth in regions around the world affected by HIV/AIDS in a spirit of solidarity and to support them in taking positive action in their lives and in their communities."

GTN is now encouraging youth to work collaboratively on art and media projects across borders to raise awareness and funds for orphans of AIDS/HIV in South Africa and other parts of the world. GTN is broadening the campaign to include other organizations and youth groups dedicated to AIDS/HIV awareness. Video clips and a documentary video of the event will be available shortly at GTN and AFXB web sites.