Friends,

On 31st March I’ll be running the 56km Two Oceans Ultramarathon in Cape Town to raise money for CHIVA Africa (assuming injuries behave!).

Every child has the right to quality healthcare and CHIVA Africa is dedicated to improving healthcare for children and adolescents living with HIV. They provide on-site mentoring and teaching to improve the skills and knowledge of healthcare workers on the frontline of South Africa’s HIV epidemic. By building their capacity, they help to achieve a long and healthy life for all children and adolescents.

While an ultramarathon may seem pretty challenging, it is utterly insignificant when you consider the daily struggle that young people with HIV endure, as well as those of their families and carers.  Some parallels do exist however – to complete my run, I have committed support from family, friends, physios (!), and will have the benefit of supporters and volunteers on the day giving me encouragement, water and aid. CHIVA Africa is that family, friend, supporter and volunteer for children and adolescents living with HIV.

With your support, you too can be on the side of the road cheering, supporting and providing aid. Your donations will be used to fund CHIVA Africa’s amazing team to improve their Paediatric and Adolescent Programmes, and make a direct impact on local communities.

More than 320,000 young people are living with HIV in South Africa – the highest in the world – and adolescents is the only demographic where HIV infection rates are increasing. It is estimated that 400,000 infected are children aged 0-14.

The following blogs provide some good case studies of the health programmes:

http://chiva-africa.org/latest-news/breaking-the-trend-pinetown-clinic-sets-the-pace-for-positive-change/ 

http://chiva-africa.org/latest-news/supporting-the-process-of-hiv-disclosure/ 

For more information on CHIVA Africa and their life-changing programmes please visit www.chiva-africa.org

Any support is hugely appreciated.

Thank you, thank you, thank you…

Woody x

p.s. Special thanks to Michi for putting up with my long runs on the weekend!