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PHOTO BY MATT NAGLE

AFRICAN EXPERIENCE. Through World Vision translator Lucy Atim (far right) Life Center Pastor Dean Curry asked Nalongo Namubiru Margret, who is HIV positive, questions about what life is like in AIDS-stricken Uganda where she lives with her two daughters, one of whom is also HIV positive.

Mayor Baarsma calls on Tacomans to help children in Lesotho

By Matt Nagle

In February of last year, Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma and his wife, Carol, introduced the Global Neighbor Project at a breakfast event where those in attendance learned about the new philanthropic non-profit and its plans to help the impoverished country of Lesotho, an African nation that has one of the highest populations of people with AIDS in the world. On April 18 the couple invited everyone back for an update on progress the project has made during the past 12 months.

Speaking to a full house at Life Center on the campus of Life Christian Academy, Baarsma listed some sobering statistics about Lesotho, where he spent time in 2006 with Life Center pastor Dean Curry and various local community and government leaders. It was from this trip that Baarsma, Curry, University Place City Councilmember Ken Grassi and former Tacoma City Councilmember Kevin Phelps formed the Global Neighbor Project and essentially “adopted” Sekameng, a region of Lesotho where, because of AIDS, the average life expectancy is 34 years.

Baarsma said 49 percent of the Lesotho population lives below the poverty level with 40 percent being unemployed. More than 100,000 Lesotho children have been orphaned, and it is estimated that 20 percent of Lesotho’s children will be orphaned within the next three years. To help the audience gain perspective, Baarsma said Lesotho is to South Africa like Ruston is to Tacoma, as Lesotho is completely surrounded by its larger neighbor. He called his experience while in Lesotho “an epiphany” that opened his eyes to how serious the situation there really is. “Each person in this room can make a difference,” he stated, and encouraged everyone to join the Global Neighbor Project’s community-to-community rescue effort to bring a much better quality of life to the people there. Essential needs top the list: safe water, nutritious food, health care, education, micro-enterprise development and compassionate care for orphans.

To maximize resources, the Global Neighbor Project partnered with Christian humanitarian organization World Vision. Several important goals have already been accomplished for the community of Sekameng, the first of which was to sponsor 1,000 orphans. As of World AIDS Day last Dec. 1, that number reached 1,003. In addition, $36,000 has been raised to provide 818 children with school desks and $13,228 has been raised for 526 caregiver medical kits. And, $44,109 has been raised for the community to help with food, water, education and ongoing care of orphans.

“From World Vision’s perspective, it is an honor to be part of this innovative partnership,” said David Knibbe, vice president of World Vision. “This model of partnering is pushing World Vision to new realms, allowing us to do some breakthrough thinking in how to help impoverished people.”

When Curry introduced three special guests from Uganda who were flown in for the breakfast event, the audience erupted in applause. Through World Vision translator Lucy Atim, adolescent twin sisters Babirye Jennifer Nanyonojo and Nakato Cissy Nambusi and their mother Nalongo Namubiru Margret answered questions about what their life is like in their homeland. Tears filled 16-year-old Babirye’s eyes when Curry asked her, “What would you like the audience to know?” She replied, “AIDS is a killer.”

Babirye’s family believes she contracted HIV from her mother at birth, but she was diagnosed much later in life. She said she knew she had the virus when she noticed lesions on her arm, the same kind she saw on others in her village suffering from the disease. Nakato was spared from HIV and is a staunch support for her sister, who is doing well now thanks to recent advances in anti-retroviral therapy medications. Their mother’s health has improved as well due to the medications and today Nalongo is a World Vision trained caregiver, doing outreach through home visitations and weekly training sessions.

Following breakfast, where those in attendance dined on modest servings of millet porridge and sweet potatoes as those in Lesotho would do, everyone was invited to experience life in an African village through a model set up next door in the Korum Activity Center. World Vision’s “Step Into Africa” exhibit, now on an 80-city traveling tour, is a unique multimedia, interactive exhibit that allows visitors to step into the lives of actual children affected by HIV and AIDS in the hardest-hit region of the world: Sub-Saharan Africa, where about 25 million people are infected with HIV (2/3 of the world’s total). Visitors walk through a replica of an African village and experience the effects of the pandemic in a real way as they listen to a personal audio track relating the story of one of four real children, two of whom are Babirye and Nakato.

To learn more, visit www.globalneighborproject.org.

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