• Greetings - The Rev. Canon Judy Rois CCDP
• Hilary Hall - Programme Manager, Stephen Lewis Foundation
• Siphiwe Hlophe - Founder, SWAPOL (Swaziland Positive Living)
• Question Period - Rev. Dianne Mesh,CCDP
• Closing Remarks - on behalf of the Churches-on-the-Hill

Everyone is invited to remain following the presentation for refreshments and an opportunity to speak informally with this evening’s guests. Our thanks to Sheila Royce, of Grace Church-on–the-hill, for providing the cookies and to CCDP for the coffee and tea.

Donations to the Stephen Lewis Foundation may be made after the presentation in the area where the refreshments are being served.

Swaziland Positive Living (SWAPOL) is an organization for People living with HIV/AIDS and affected families. The organization has 1003 members of which all but 50 are women.

Swaziland has just recently been revealed as being the country in Africa with the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS. There is little or not education or support for persons living with HIV/AIDS in rural communities and very few resources for this kind of work. Access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) is rare because of the distances from rural communities to hospitals and the cost of transport per person, which is prohibitive for someone living with HIV/AIDS who can’t work due to illness. Promotion of positive living and nutrition is urgent in order to prolong lives and lessen the number of orphans.

SWAPOL was established in 2001 by Siphiwe Holphe and four other HIV-positive women after they encountered problems with their in-laws and communities. They decided to form the organization to reduce stigma and discrimination at the community level. SWAPOL understands the importance of working closely with local chiefs, authorities, religious groups and other organizations doing similar or complementary work.

SWAPOL has worked to mobilize rural communities in the areas of training and education, disseminating information about HIV/AIDS. SWAPOL also trains community caregivers in home-care and referring the sick to hospitals. The organization has its own home-visit program and encourages person living with HIV/AIDS to engage in healthy nutrition at the household level – growing vegetables in kitchen gardens. SWAPOL has also worked with child-headed households to grow small gardens for the provision of healthy food to orphans and other vulnerable children.

An orphan care centre has been established at Mahlangatsha, where 500 children are provided with two meals a day, five days a week. The Centre does not have enough food to provide meals for the children on the weekends. Even week-day meals are becoming difficult and community members and SWAPOL are contributing food.

For more information, visit www.swapol.net.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation

In 2003, Mr. Lewis created the Stephen Lewis foundation to help ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa. The purpose of the foundation is threefold:

• To provide care at the community level to women who are dying, so that their last weeks, days, hours are free from pain, humiliation and indignity;
• To assist orphans and other AIDS-affected children, in every possible way, from the payment of school fees to the provision of food; and
• To support associations of people living with HIV/AIDS, so that the courageous men and women who have openly declared their status can educate themselves and share information with the broader community on prevention, treatment, care and the elimination of stigma.

For more information visit: www.stephenlewisfoundation.org

The Churches-on-the-Hill

The “Churches-on-the-Hill” is what the nine churches in the Yonge and St. Clair area call themselves when they work together on projects such as the Churches-on-the-Hill Food Bank and other outreach projects o aid the local and wider community. The nine churches hold occasional ecumenical worship services, most notably an annual Advent Service and a Good Friday Walk.

For more information, click here.