Did you know that each day over 6,000 young people are infected with HIV—with most of them in Africa?

That’s one infection every 14 seconds.

To many this may seem like a distant problem, but for those in many developing regions of the world AIDS is not a statistic, it is a name, of a friend, mother, father, neighbor, or boyfriend.

In countries like Tanzania, where literacy rates and formal education are on a consistent decline, where there is little access to information regarding health and environment, where stigma and discrimination against those infected with AIDS/HIV prevent open dialogue about the disease, it is crucial to provide programs that teach health education and life skills to empower the young people to make the right decisions in their lives.

Student Partnership Worldwide does just that.

SPW undertakes youth focused projects in educational work, sending over 300 volunteers every year to Africa, India, and Nepal. Young people are the most vulnerable to HIV with new infection rates higher in young people than in any other group. SPW volunteers work to educate these young people and teach them to be leaders in their communities, a strategy that creates long-term empowerment of local villages and enhances effective social change. By working with and through young people, SPW mobilizes the next generation to act as catalysts of change. Young people are not only the target audience of SPW’s programs but are also the organization’s soldiers in the field. SPW’s philosophy of sustainable development involves pairing American, European, Australian, and Canadian volunteers with native volunteers to live and work with rural communities. This unique pairing facilitates the complementary sharing of knowledge, experience, perspective, and ideas to make a difference in the lives of those they serve. Beginning in January 2008, I will join SPW to serve in Iringa, Tanzania for 8 months.

To be truly effective, change must not only occur overseas, but also in our own backyard. While fundraising is always a tenuous and uncomfortable process, it is necessary in the way it facilitates an important discussion and awareness of these global issues. SPW is built on the notion of a worldwide partnership—it is structured to be an international collaborative effort. To effectively run and reach the people it aims to aid, SPW asks each of its volunteers to raise funds for the organization. In the next month I need to collect $6,000. This is certainly a mountain to climb alone, but your generosity will make this goal more than feasible. SPW is applauded for its tireless efforts to make certain the sustainability of its programs, ensuring that my work over the next 8 months will be part of a much larger movement that will help the young people in Iringa far beyond the time I am there. As a donation to an organization and not an individual’s quest, each donation is tax deductible and goes to directly benefit the youth I work with, both while I am there and after I leave.

ANY donation is tremendously appreciated and EVERY donation will bring me that much closer to my goal.

Thank you for your generosity.