Stay Alive Attracts Church Involvement to Teach Values to
Children in Africa
May 5, 2008
Dear Friend of the Family,Carol Soleberg, President of UFI
Stay Alive, the HIV-AIDS prevention program of United Families International, has changed the lives of children and families throughout the continent of Africa, but that is not enough. Even though Stay Alive has been taught to over 750,000 children, there are still millions of children who need this life-saving program.
Time is of the essence. Each day 6,000 young people in Africa become infected. It is reported that 80 million Africans will die from AIDS by 2025, leaving tens of millions of children orphans.
We know this program saves lives! Professional evaluations (Panos, Panos and Cox) have proven that the Stay Alive program has reduced pregnancy by up to 61 percent in schools where the Stay Alive program has been taught, showing reduced sexual activity.
One key to Stay Alive’s effectiveness is our on-the-ground implementing partners who teach the program. Stay Alive is currently being taught in public and private schools, community programs and through local churches of all denominations.
We are pleased to announce two of our newest implementing partners: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in Kenya and the Catholic Church in Tanzania. We believe that a partnership between Stay Alive and religious organizations is another effective method for implementing the program because Stay Alive is a value-based program that works well in religious curriculum.
We will soon collaborate on a pilot program with LDS churchin Nairobi, Kenya, in Eastern Africa where 200 children in an LDS congregation ages 9-14 will receive instruction in the Stay Alive program. This will be the first pilot that includes the newly-released manual that includes all five modules of the Stay Alive program. Our Stay Alive director, said, “We hope to follow shortly with an LDS pilot program in the West African nation of Ghana.”
We also received exciting news that The Catholic Church in Tanzania has approved Stay Alive to be implemented into their curriculum throughout Tanzania!
Voices from Africa testify of the hope that Stay Alive brings.
Purity Muthoni’s mother died of AIDS and she and her siblings found themselves in a hopeless situation. Purity (photographed with her siblings, below, rigth) said, “Stay Alive Program has helped me to not do bad things to people I love and also it has helped me to know how to protect my future family and my happiness.”
The principal at Purity’s school said “Oh, how touching it is to hear words of hope from one whose upbringing had a lot of hopelessness.” Stay Alive does bring hope!
United Families International continues to take the Stay Alive program to every country, region and village possible. We
need to move quickly because AIDS is on the rise in many continents throughout the world. Stay Alive can and will make a difference!
In order to sustain the current programs and provide the program to other children, we need your financial support!
You can help save a life … one child at a time.
If you save a child, you can save a family, a community and possibly a nation.
Donate to the Stay Alive program
To learn how to fund a specific project, please contact us.
Thank you for helping these precious children. Your contribution will bring hope and life to many.
Warmly,
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Carol Soelberg,
President United Families International