In Africa each day, 16.000 children die from hunger right on the land that could provide food for them. That is one child lost every five seconds.
HIV/AIDS has destroyed a population of providers and the orphaned children and elderly who remain lack the skills and the means to grow food.

SOHO is funding seeds and seedlings for garden projects connected with the Welcome Places in Mhlosheni and Mbekielweni, Swaziland. Through the C.O.R.E. partnerships with Purdue University’s International Agricultural Extension Program and Andrews University’s Agricultural Program more extensive projects are being developed.

Proposal for Swaziland and Lesotho

Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world although the population is only one million. Lesotho, also leading in AIDS infection rates, shares an acute food shortage for poor, destitute rural dwellers and OVCs. A Farm Health Program is proposed as a Purdue-SOHO collaboration that will help to impact the food shortage over the longer term.

The Objectives of the Farm Health Program include:

• Training OVC family members and other families affected by AIDS in appropriate agricultural techniques and to assist them in creating income generating enterprises.
• Producing food for orphans and vulnerable children and the destitute elderly.
• Reducing HIV/AIDS stigma by becoming a positive part of the community that is explicitly linked to HIV/AIDS.

Farm Development at Hho Hho

Andrews University, based in Berrien Springs, Michigan, is collaborating with SOHO and ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) on a sixty-seven acre farm project at HhoHho, Swaziland. Here the unusually rich soil will grow crops of maize and vegetables to help feed the OVCs at our care points. The farm will also provide training in some of the new technologies so that participating local farm workers could acquire skills to make their agricultural efforts more productive.

Lesotho

Emmanuel School, Leribe, Lesotho is home to hundreds of orphans who are grateful to be there in spite of the difficult conditions under which they live. There are no toilets or running water, classrooms leak and the diet is often corn pap.

There are thirty acres of arable land which the school management wishes to develop to help feed the children and to financially support the school’s operation. SOHO has committed to assisting in finding collaborative partners to help renovate the dilapidated dormitories and develop a mini farm.

Andrews University, Berrien Springs Michigan, School of Science and Technology will assist in development of the land and of an agribusiness to help build financial infrastructure for the school.

SCHOOL OUTREACH - SLICE

SOHO seeks to encourage youth to become change agents by increasing their social awareness, improving their value of diversity and involving them hands on in addressing global problems of HIV/AIDS, poverty and hunger.

One of our key school outreach programs is SLICE (Students Learning through Individual Communication Exchanges). In this program, SOHO connects students from local middle and high schools with their counterparts in Africa, facilitating communication between the groups and their teachers so that the learning is shared, not only among those directly participating, but with the larger school body. In conjunction with these efforts, special convocations are held at the schools addressing the focus issues of hunger, poverty and AIDS.

SLICE enables participating youth to develop leadership skills and it engages the school in philanthropy at a level where the students can appreciate the benefits of their efforts up close, on a personal level.

HIV/AIDS PREVENTION

According to the Alliance of Mayor’s Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL) in Swaziland, the country with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world, there are several factors that are influencing the spread of the disease in spite of accessibility to disease fighting drugs. These include cultural practices, the low status of women, poverty, mobility, lack of healthy recreational opportunities, knowledge gap and over emphasis of condom use compared to abstinence and mutual faithfulness.

SOHO in collaboration with AMICAALL, is developing an HIV/AIDS prevention program that emphasizes education, behavior modification and empowerment for positive life choices. Although the program is applicable to a wider range of participants, it specifically targets the fifteen to thirty age group where infection rates are particularly high.

The program objectives are:

• To provide accurate information on HIV/AIDS transmission and reduce stigmatization.
• To reduce risky sex and increase the number of young people practicing abstinence.
• To provide wholesome alternatives to recreational sexual activity while increasing physical fitness, improving socialization and sharpening decision making and leadership skills.
• To discourage transactional sex by building job skills and increasing income generating opportunity through entrepreneurship and vocational training.
  
  

C.O.R.E. PARTNERS

Recognizing the limitations of a single NGO in addressing the enormous challenges created by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, SOHO has developed a C.O.R.E. (Collaboration for Orphan Relief and Empowerment ) Network, drawing on the strengths and resources of various organizations and institutions to develop sustainable solutions to the urgent needs of OVCs and destitute elderly where HIV/AIDS is prevalent.

Current SOHO C.O.R.E. Partners include:

Marvin White, CFO, Systems VP, St Vincent Health
Hon. Myra Selby, Partner, Ice Miller
Dr. J. Lowenberg-DeBoer, Associate Dean and Director, International Programs in Agriculture, Purdue University
Dr. Gilbert L. Rochon, Associate VP, Collaborative Research and Engagement, Chief Scientist Rosen Center For Advanced Computing, Purdue University
Dr Verlyn Benson, Dean, School of Technology, Andrews University
Dr. Tom Chittick, Chair, School of Agriculture, Andrews University
Dr. Stephen N. Campbell, Professor, Counseling, Nova Southeastern University
Clayton Taylor, Vice President, WFYI–TV
Dr Karla McKanders, University of Tennessee, School of Law
Dr Walter Douglas, Executive Director, Administration,  University of Medicine and Dentistry, NJ
Prince Cedza Dlamini, UBUNTU Institute, Johannesburg, SA
Bishop Jeremiah Mdlalose, Light Of The Zulu Nation, Bishop of the Royal Household of King Goodwill Zwelthini, Kwa Zulu Natal
W. Michael Clippinger, Asst. Vice Chancellor, IVY Tech. Community College
Dr. Sally Brown, Founder & President, Ambassadors for Children
Dr Patricia Richon, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Purdue University
Phesheya Vilakazi, Program Manager, SWAGAA (Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse)
Dr Doran C. French, Head, Child Development and Family Studies
Rudolph Mayzia, National Director, AMICAAL (Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level)
Dr Reginald Hughes, MD, President, The African Cultural Exchange
Dr Kwame Easterling, MD, Physician, The African Cultural Exchange
Alec Rosenberg, Arent Fox LLC, Trademark and copyright attys.
Stephanie Woodcox, Indiana State Dept. Of Health, Children’s Special health Care Services
Andrea Perez, HIV/STD, Indiana State Dept. of Health, Program Manager, Communities of Color
Tony Melloh, Samaritan’s Feet
Quay R. Whitlock, Director, Events & Development, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Dr Rabi Mohtar, Global Engineering, Purdue University
Engineers Without Borders, Purdue University
Will Austin, Basic Utility Vehicle, Institute for Affordable Transportation
Khulekani Magongo, Administrator, Young Heroes
Lawrence Geraty, President Emeritus, La Sierra University
William Pergerson, President, Kanawha Medical Supplies

SOHO ADVISORY TEAM:

H.E.Ephraim M. Hlophe, Ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of Swaziland
Dr Eddie RuKundo, President, HIV/AIDS Forum for South Africa
Solomon Nkabinde, County Chair, Shell Oil, Swaziland
Dr David R. Williams, Harvard School of Public Health.
Dan Mdluli, President, Swaziland SDA Conference
Nkanyiso Gamedze, Director ADRA, Swaziland
Heather Dawn Small, Dir. Women’s Ministries, SDA General Conference
Dr Flonzie Brown-Wright, Scholar in Residence, Miami University
Tshidi Nyama, Partner, Global Coaching Partnership
Antoinette DuPont, Tums Group
Rudolph Maziya, National Director, AMICAALL-Swaziland
Mokhothu Makhalanyane, Community Outreach Liaison, Lesotho