In October of last year, I was provided with a unique service opportunity through my French 201 course. My French professor had met a woman named Tanya Weaver three years prior, through a Craigslist ad for French tutoring she had posted. Tanya wanted to learn the language of French in order to improve her work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She currently works for the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, or AFCA. In French 201, we were offered a day of volunteer work helping with an auction and fundraiser held in Tanya's barn, and the proceeds would go to AFCA. Because of our volunteer work, which included encouraging attendees to participate in the auction, manning tables that sold baked goods, and helping to serve food, more money would go directly to AFCA.
During the day, which was filled with live music, interesting conversation, and dance lessons from my French professor and her sister, the weight of the work of which we were apart of did not truly hit me. This event was to fundraise for AFCA, and I found myself unaware of the work that AFCA did. It was not until this semester, when my French professor invited Tanya to campus to speak in classes and give a talk, did I realize the strength of the service work AFCA does.
Tanya is the only full-time staff member of AFCA. The rest are part-time and volunteer members. As she said in her talk, "There are so many ideas for things I'd like to do to sustain this program, but I need more people." When she was asked to essentially run AFCA, a program which provides medical care and economic sustainability education to children affected and infected by AIDS in Africa, she was eight months pregnant and received a job description that required her to, as she put it, "do it all." But, she couldn't deny the chance to help these children.
Throughout the day, and throughout her talk, she described countless stories of the people she worked with. In our French class, she told us that when she initially began working with AFCA in 2007, and she asked the children with whom she worked what they wanted to be when they grew up, they stared at her blankly. The chances of them living to adulthood were slim. They knew they were sick, and most of them had seen either one or both of their parents die from AIDS. These children could not dream of their futures.
To dream of the future is a luxury we take for granted. When Tanya first arrived in Africa, the people with whom she worked asked her how many children she had and how old they were. She responded that she had two children, a one-year-old, and a five-year-old. They confusedly responded that she only had one child then. In Africa, the chances of children making it to five years old is very slim, so these families had not counted their children until they made it to five years.
Recently, AFCA had their first generation of "graduates" move through the system. Five people whom AFCA began to work with when they were younger have now turned nineteen and moved into adulthood, dreaming of their futures - some of which include a mechanic, a caterer, and an engineer. The excitement of seeing this happen, finding something bigger than herself, is unimaginable.
AFCA has also had a prosperous relationship with Hershey Medical. They were redesigning the beds in their hospital, and instead of transporting the perfectly good beds to a dump, AFCA brought them to hospitals in Africa, and has since then given 2,000 beds to the hospitals in which they are involved. The days of supply delivery, she told us, are like Christmas for the people in Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. AFCA works with these people, instead of for these people, and asks them what they need, instead of telling them.
There is a need for volunteer work constantly, she told us as her parting words. No matter what major you are in, she said, there is a need for your help. If you are interested in learning more or donating to AFCA, visit afcaids.org.
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