Practitioner – Rex Ajenifuja

Dear Friends:

The need to reach out to the vulnerable  and the youngest members of our community was brought home to me in dramatic fashion on a visit to Makoko, where two children in six dies before the age of five and more than 98 percent of the population lives in poverty. In Makoko (onshore and offshore community), I witnessed children living in crumbling, bombed-out buildings and in the tiny shelters of internally displaced persons' camps with bamboo leaves sheeting for roofs. I met children who had lost limbs and families to poverty, children who had no basic education or good health and no access to clean water. These children knew no other way of life.

Around the world, even in the most desperate situations, people show astonishing determination and nurture high aspirations for their children. Today, Hope for HIV/AIDS is working in eight Slum Communities in Nigeria to help poorest of the poor and widows build better lives for themselves and their children. Hope for HIV/AIDS has chosen to concentrate our efforts on 4 main Essential services and they are basic education, nutritional meal, clothing and basic health as our four focus areas and have determined to reach 100,000 poorest of the poor in these rural places with these by the end of 2020. We at HOPE FOR HIV/AIDS recognize the vital role that schooling plays in the health, safety, and social and emotional well being of children. We believe that the rate of return on investment in education is greater than any other investment we make in the developing world. We commit ourselves to promoting access to a quality basic education for all of our poorest of the poor children in our targeted communities by establishing and managing nursery and primary schools.

May I welcome you to join us once again in moving forward in this noble assignment of bringing hope and adding value to the lives of those helpless children in our communities, from ilaje, to Ijora-Badia, Abete, Igbehin-Adun, Makoko, Oloto, Oworoshonki amd now Akobo in Ibadan as well as the other emerging ones.

By attacking poverty at its roots, Hope for HIV/AIDS helps to build a future of dignity and security for all the world's children.

Rex Ajenifuja
Coordinator,

Hope for HIV/AIDS at Work, Lagos.

Varius hifh levels international training too numerous to mention