Harambee to fight HIV in Kenya

Twenty-two College of Charleston students and two faculty members are traveling to Kenya this week to play a part in addressing the consequences of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The goal of the Project Harambee initiative is to build a medical clinic at an orphanage in the Kitui District of eastern Kenya, according to Mutindi Ndunda, a College of Charleston education professor and project organizer.

"We originally hoped to build schools but realized we needed to do what the (Kenyan) community wanted," Ndunda said. The village wanted a medical facility.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the worst orphan crisis in the world, according to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Officials estimate that 12 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. That number could grow to 18 million by 2010.

In 2003, about 3 million people died of AIDS, three-quarters of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to The Global Fund. Another 5 million were newly infected. About 70 percent of all people infected with HIV live in the region. In 2004, an estimated 3.1 million people there were infected with the virus.

The College of Charleston students worked for months to raise thousands of dollars each, Ndunda said. The project has collected about $50,000 so far.

To raise the money, students held a silent auction at Kudu Coffee, organized a dog wash and solicited contributions from individuals.

The fundraiser that meant the most to Ndunda, though, was the bake sale offered by the college-affiliated N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center. About 200 items were sold by 4-year-olds and kindergarten children, who raised $135. "To me it was like $135 million!" Ndunda said.

Ndunda, who is from Kenya, will be joined on the trip by colleague Angela Crespo Cozart; Todd Chas, program coordinator for The Center for Cultural Diversity; student organizer Matthew Foley; and other students.

The purpose of Project Harambee is twofold: to assist orphans and orphanage administrators in Kenya and to establish a model for student service learning, Foley said. He hopes the project's success will set an example for the college, encouraging more support for in-the-field learning.

Foley, a 22-year-old senior, said he plans to become a high school English teacher, but one who dedicates himself to humanitarian work. "I see myself doing this kind of work later on," he said. "Helping others is a calling of mine."

That calling caused Foley to commit fully to Project Harambee. "I've done a lot of work (on the project) this semester," he said. "My grades have kind of suffered for it."

Foley said he expects to continue fundraising and organizing efforts for the project upon his return later this month and likely will return to Africa in the summer.

"Harambee" is Swahili for "Let's pull together."

Reach Adam Parker at 937-5902 or aparker@postandcourier.com.