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Blog Posts
Trash is Not Trash Until It Is Wasted
January 26th, 2012Many of us recycle our bottles and waste without ever seeing the tangible benefits. Although recycling is practiced far less commonly in Sub Sahara Africa, the recycling efforts of two [...]
Turning the Millennium Goals into Reality: Goal 6—Combat HIV, Malaria, and Other Diseases
January 13th, 2012In the sixth blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases. The targets of the [...]
Looking to a Brighter Future in Africa
January 3rd, 2012When thinking about Africa, the facts that come to mind are often not good. Most Africans live on less than $2 a day. The average life span in many countries [...]
Can we save Africa’s lions and other big cats from extinction?
December 16th, 2011Panthera vice president George Schaller laments the demise of big cats in the December issue of National Geographic and asks if we as a people have the will to save [...]
Fulfilling the Principles of Human Rights Day
December 10th, 2011It is hard to believe that 63 years ago today, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration has served as the foundation for an ever-expanding [...]
Drilling for Water in Africa’s Most Remote Regions
December 5th, 2011They did it! World Hope International recently dug its 700th well and achieved its goal of providing 500,000 people in Sub Saharan Africa with clean water! World Hope and its [...]
Recognizing Progress, Committing to the Future on World AIDS Day
December 1st, 2011On World AIDS Day, our attention turns again to Sub-Saharan Africa, which has only one-tenth of the world’s population, but two-thirds of the people in the world living [...]
Overcoming Barriers to Graduating from High School
November 15th, 2011In Kenya, where three quarters of all high school students never graduate, Aid for Africa member Kenya Education Fund (KEF) helps disadvantaged students beat the odds. There are a number [...]
Remembering a Legacy of Planting Trees and Building Lives
November 4th, 2011In our previous blog post on the 2011 International Year of the Forest we highlighted the importance of forests in Africa, which account for the livelihoods of more than half [...]
Turning the Millennium Goals Into Reality: Goal 5 – Improve Maternal Health
October 24th, 2011In the fifth blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 5: Improve maternal health. The UN goal is to ensure that [...]
New Digital Technology Hunts Down War Criminal and His Army in Central Africa
October 10th, 2011Communities across Central Africa are now better equipped to prevent and respond to atrocities committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) thanks to Aid for Africa member Invisible Children, which [...]
Community-Based Conservation Efforts to Protect Wildlife
September 22nd, 2011Tomorrow, September 22, is World Rhino Day, when international attention is raised about the senseless slaughter of these amazing animals due to the mythical belief held by many that rhino horn contains magical healing properties.
Eliminating the Obstacles Keeping African Children Out of School
September 14th, 2011This September throughout the United States, school-age children picked up their books and lunch money and headed off to school. They look forward to doing that every year through their [...]
Education on Overdrive—Creating Sustainable Schools
August 26th, 2011In Uganda and Tanzania, students supported by Aid for Africa members are learning more than reading, science, and math. They are learning how to make their schools sustainable.
For the last [...]
Turning the Millennium Goals into Reality: Goal 4—Reduce Child Mortality
August 15th, 2011In the fourth blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality. The UN goal is to reduce child mortality by two thirds between 2009 and 2015.
Fighting East African Famine Requires both Immediate and Long-term Solutions
August 1st, 2011Food aid has begun to reach people in East Africa who are severely afflicted by the worst drought in 60 years. This emergency food aid is vital to prevent thousands [...]
Elephant Poaching on the Rise Again: Kenyan Government Burns Ivory to Raise Awareness
July 22nd, 2011The Kenyan Government burned five tons of elephant ivory worth $16 million July 20 to alert the world to a recent surge in elephant deaths from poaching.
Africa’s Newest Country – The Republic of South Sudan
July 11th, 2011On July 9 the world welcomed its newest country and the 54th in Africa—the Republic of South Sudan.
Turning the Millennium Development Goals Into Reality: Part 2
June 8th, 2011In the second blog post in our series about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals we focus on Millennium Goal 2: Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere are able to complete [...]
Zeroing in on Farming in Africa as a Key to Long-Term Development
June 1st, 2011At a recent meeting of the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs, Bill Gates spoke of a new effort to help the farmers of Africa and South Asia build better lives [...]
Turning the Millennium Development Goals Into Reality
May 19th, 2011Did you know that the Millennium Development Goals are the most ambitious, targeted, and comprehensive set of objectives ever created to eradicate extreme poverty? Established by the United Nations in [...]
Fostering Development from within a Community—The Value of Small Nonprofits
May 13th, 2011Most people who view the Kibera slum of 1 million–with its burgeoning youth population–on the outskirts of Nairobi see a powder keg waiting to explode. A few others, like Rye [...]
Remembering Less Fortunate Mothers
May 6th, 2011Being a mother is never easy, but in Africa it takes on a whole new dimension. Save the Children’s new report on the best and worst countries for motherhood says [...]
Great Ape Trust Recognized for its Research Efforts with Bonobos and Chimpanzees
April 29th, 2011Aid for Africa member Great Ape Trust has two reasons to celebrate. In Iowa, the Trust’s Sue Savage-Rumbaugh was named one of the TIME 100 for 2011 for her work [...]
“Greening” Africa
April 21st, 2011Aid for Africa members work to “green” Africa on Earth Day and every day. Sub Saharan Africa is rich in natural resources and the region has great potential for renewable [...]
Providing Hope to Ivorian Refugees in Liberia
April 15th, 2011The conflict in the Ivory Coast has led to the fleeing of more than 80,000 Ivorian refugees to its neighbor Liberia. In the midst of this humanitarian disaster Aid for [...]
Doctors and Health Workers Answering the Call in Sub Saharan Africa
April 4th, 2011In a recent compelling article in The New York Times, Celia Dugger describes a growing movement in the U.S. of young American doctors and health workers who are going to [...]
Focus on Women: Realizing a Girl’s Potential and Fulfilling her Aspirations through Education
March 30th, 2011When Ann Musabe was 16 years old she was in high school in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and in need of support. She found that support through Aid for [...]
World Water Day: Spotlight on Saving Lives with Safe Drinking Water
March 21st, 2011On March 22, World Water Day, Aid for Africa asks you to remember that there are 1.1 billion people in the world who lack access to safe drinking water – [...]
Focus on Women: Changing a Young Woman’s Story through Education
March 18th, 2011Caroline Kashinin Senteu is one of only a handful of Maasai women in Kenya with a college education, and although her story began as the story of most Maasai women, [...]
Focus on Women: Ugandan Finds Calling as a “Gorilla Doctor”
March 11th, 2011Aid for Africa member Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) has a new veterinarian–Dr. Racheal Mbabazi. Racheal graduated from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, in 2010 with a degree in veterinary [...]
Planting the Seeds Toward a Brighter Future
February 25th, 2011Tamiru Gerite lives with his wife and five children in the village of Bedengeltu, in Southern Ethiopia. He works hard as a farmer, but his subsistence fields generate little income. [...]
A New Model for Helping South Africa’s Most Vulnerable Children
February 2nd, 2011The founders of the Ubuntu Education Fund in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, realized early on that that a fresh approach was needed to help the thousands of vulnerable South African [...]
Southern Sudan Votes for the Future and Prepares for the Challenges
January 10th, 2011In Sudan, the south and north fought a civil war for more than three decades. Beginning January 9 through the 15th, the south is voting to become an independent state. [...]
Partners In Health—A Vision of What Can Be
December 12th, 2010Aid for Africa was founded on the belief that committed individuals working on the ground in Africa can make a real difference in the lives of those in need. Like [...]
Aid for Africa Girls Education Fund — Helping girls go to school, stay in school, and succeed in life!
September 16th, 2010Life is tough for many poor girls in Africa. Culture and tradition often keeps them at home while their brothers go to school. Some girls are forced to marry when [...]
Africa’s growing economic muscle tells only part of the story
August 5th, 2010Africa is making progress economically, according to a new report by McKinsey & Company. With combined gross domestic products across the continent of 1.6 trillion dollars in 2008, Africa is [...]
For the Love of Soccer
July 8th, 2010As the World Cup winds down this week, we are left with images of the best teams in the world competing for the top honor in soccer in vibrant and [...]
Scientific Research Underpins Development Advancements
June 16th, 2010An elephant trampling a farmer’s field is a frequent problem in many parts of Africa. One elephant can destroy a farmer’s entire crop. Recent news reports suggest that research scientists [...]
Embracing Local Community Needs is Key to Conserving Africa’s Wildlife
April 16th, 2010Today, in his column in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof writes about the demise of the African wild dog, also known as the painted dog. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands throughout Africa, the painted dog is about to disappear—only a few thousand remain in four countries.
Working to Save Africa’s Rich Biodiversity
February 25th, 2010The United Nations has named 2010 International Biodiversity Year, acknowledging the continued loss of plant and animal species around the world from population growth, urbanization, deteriorating habitats, invasive species, and [...]
PBS Turns a Much-Needed Spotlight on Maternal Health Risks in the Wake of the Haiti Earthquake
January 29th, 2010It isn’t surprising that a team from the PBS newsmagazine NOW turned to Ann Starrs, president and cofounder of Family Care International, when it wanted to better understand why women [...]
Alternatives to Orphanages Bring Hope to Africa’s Vulnerable Children
December 19th, 2009The United Nations estimates that more than 55 million African children have lost one parent and that almost 15 million of them have lost a parent to AIDS. Orphanages are [...]
For Aid for Africa Members, Every Day is World AIDS Day
December 1st, 2009Two-thirds of the people in the world living with HIV and AIDS are in Sub Saharan Africa. In its 2009 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS found that more [...]
Surviving Drought through Small Businesses
November 19th, 2009According to Reuters some 23 million people are in need of food aid in East Africa because of severe drought. Last month the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development [...]
The Nobel Economics Prize and Africa
October 14th, 2009Tapping Elinor Ostrom as one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics is exciting for anyone interested in issues of saving forests, wildlife conservation, agricultural development, and environmental [...]
Strengthening Women’s Healthcare to Stem Rising Preterm Births
October 7th, 2009A new study by the March of Dimes with the World Health Organization finds that globally each year almost 13 million babies are born prematurely—one of every ten newborns. Four [...]
The Power of Books
October 1st, 2009Today’s Diane Rehm radio program featured the amazing story of a 14-year-old boy from Malawi, William Kamkwamba, who taught himself how to build a windmill out of garbage, bringing light [...]
Aid for Africa Launches New Web Site
September 24th, 2009Today, Aid for Africa announces the launch of its new web site. We hope this site will be a resource for those looking to support the causes – clean water, [...]