Help Destitute Moms with AIDS Care for Their Kids

                     GlobalGiving's Fall 2023

             Little by Littlle Match Campaign 

50% match on donations up to $50 Sept. 18~ 22

In this autumn of 2023 we celebrate 25 years of supporting AIDS afflicted women and their children in Cambodia, who have been  primarily (but not always)  located  in Phnom Penh.  

We never envisioned that so many women and kids would transition through this program  or that we would to do this work for so many years. Regretably, we did not accurately track the many  women and children served by our program, particularly in the early years. Over the course of these 25  years  a great number of these women and  their children died. Others transitioned out of the program because, with the resources  and stable lifestyle provided by our program, they were about to regain their health to a degree which allowed them to become independent.  Although some survived only a few weeks or months after entering the program, others, including a few who joined us in the first year (1999) are still with us today. 

Our program has changed over the years, evolving with the times.  In 2013, our program director ( a former nun)  decided to return to religious life after having led  our program  for eleven years. In combination with this change and given the dramatic improvement in medical care and AIDS patient survival rates in Cambodia and throughout Southeast Asia , we began reducing the numbers of women receiving support from our program. 

Now, ten years later we continue to support  23 adults and about 13 children through this program  with a projected average total cost of approximately $2,500  to $ 3,000 per month. The approximate cost reflects unexpected expenses that can sometimes occur and the continuing impact of rising inflation, which is of particular concern. There are few , if any,  public resources to provide assistance  to these families. 

• Of the 23 adults still receiving support, six are women over the age of 70.  Two are women who have suffered crippling strokes and are now partially paralyzed and, therefore, unable to care for themselves. They rely on their adult children to care for them but since those children have incomes which only barely allow them to support themselves and their own children, we continue to provide food and housing support for those two stroke victims.   

• One of the six women over the age of 70 is actually in her early eighties.  Her daughter died in our program more than fifteen years ago and left her mother with two young grandchildren to support.  Those two children, a boy and a girl, are now both in their twenties but the boy has suffered since birth from very severe developmental disabilities. He is incapable of taking care of himself and he requires constant supervision – day and night. His grandmother and his sister sell vegetables by the side of street in their neighborhood to supplement the modest support which they receive from our program.  We worry constantly about what will happen to that young man when his grandmother dies.   

Your loyal support over these many years has empowered us to help countless women and children impacted by twin burdens of extreme poverty and HIV/AIDs.  Each case has been unique requiring  active attention and some degree of supervision.  Our goal now is to continue to maintain  support for  these fragile families as long as we can.

We hope that you will join with us and participate in the GlobalGiving Little by Little Campaign which will offer a 50% match on donations up to $ 50 . Each and every donation helps us to be able to continue in our effort to support these familes , who otherwise would likely be living on the streets.

We are deeply grateful to you for your support.

Barbara and Mark