by Andrew Klaber (IL '03)

HIV/AIDS remains one of our generation’s most vicious killers and pressing public health concerns. The epidemic tragically undermines individuals’ familial and economic security.  In particular, the offspring of parents who are ill or have died of HIV/AIDS—AIDS orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs)—suffer directly and collaterally as a result of the disease.  According to the UNAIDS/World Health Organization 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, by the end of 2007, HIV/AIDS had left behind 15 million AIDS orphans, defined as those youngsters under 18 years of age who have lost one or both parents to AIDS.  Indeed, nearly 12 million children under 18 years of age have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa alone—a number that is larger than, for example, the entire population of Greece—and this figure is expected to rise to 14 million by 2015.

While there are currently no silver-bullet solutions to ending these youths’ distress, education can improve the lives of these children and combat the epidemic’s vicious cycle. Education helps children develop the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly competitive economy and thoughtful schooling has shown to improve youngsters’ self-esteem; additionally, many schools throughout the developing world have incorporated HIV/AIDS education as an essential component of their curriculum.  As Donald Bundy of the World Bank observed, “Education is the best vaccine that we have available at this time.”

I founded Orphans Against AIDS (OAA) in the summer of 2002 as a result of the personal experience that I had interacting with OVCs in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Orphans Against AIDS (www.orphansagainstaids.org) believes that providing educational funding to these youths is one of the most sustainable and effective ways to combat HIV/AIDS.  OAA partners with local organizations in the developing world and provides OVCs with essential funding that covers these youngsters’ academic, healthcare, and nutritional expenses.  Additionally, OAA works with its local organizations to develop their capacities for more effective and expansive operations, including advice on issues of governance and strategy and help with the implementation of new technologies such as improved websites and computer-based cost accounting.  By collaborating with its local partners, OAA helps them attract grants and donations from larger aid organizations, resulting in greater scale, impact, and a more diverse funding base.

With OAA’s support, each local partner organization selects the most vulnerable students to receive funding, oversees the program on the ground, and works with schools, physicians, community leaders, and families to monitor students’ progress. The local partner organizations communicate regularly with OAA and provide its officers and directors with a current assessment of the participating children’s psychosocial, physical, and educational wellbeing; an itemized budget of expenditures; and an analysis of available and needed finances.  Last, OAA strives to be an incubator for young social entrepreneurs, affording its all-volunteer corps a first-hand development experience at an early age with the hope that these leaders will use their knowledge to empower underserved communities throughout their private, public, or nonprofit careers.  Ganesh Sitaraman (MA, 2003) and I (IL, 2003) serve on OAA’s board of directors, where we focus our decision-making on issues of strategy, governance, and fundraising.

OAA closely tracks its own progress and impact to ensure that funds are being used as effectively as possible. Of the 600 children whom OAA has continued to sponsor over the last eight years, 98% are still in school; once OAA makes a commitment to a child, as long as her or his academic progress is sufficient, we strive to support the duration of her or his primary and secondary education.  Since 2002, OAA has raised over $750,000 from institutions like the Goldman Sachs Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, the Medtronic Foundation, Google, Rotary International, the Magdalen College Trust and New College Trust of the University of Oxford, as well as thousands of grassroots donors such as elementary schools, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), and individuals.

While OAA trusts its local partners to develop informed selection criteria and operational procedures that best suit their specific communities, OAA does request that they follow certain guidelines.  For example, OAA requires that its local partners not select children who are simultaneously receiving sufficient support from the government or other NGOs when there are OVCs who are not receiving such assistance, and OAA requires that its local partners not discriminate against female children in deciding who should receive funding.  Following the best-practice of other NGOs that work with OVCs, we ask our partners to assess the needs of all vulnerable children—not only those orphaned by AIDS—in determining those youths who should receive OAA support.  We require our local partner organizations to maintain thorough records, such as academic report cards, and provide us with receipts for expenses. 

 Since OAA’s founding in 2002, the majority of our efforts have been aimed at establishing new projects and developing our fundraising base, which now includes an income generating venture—Thanda Zulu (www.thandazulu.org)–that employs 100 South African women who have been affected by HIV/AIDS.  All profits from the jewelry and hand crafts go to the academic, health care, and nutritional needs of the OVCs whom OAA supports.  In this vein, OAA represents the synergies that are possible when the non-profit and private sectors harness their respective expertise and combine forces for the benefit of society.

On a more personal note, as a 2003 Truman Scholar, the Truman community gave me and continues to give me the confidence to carry on this work despite the requirements of my full-time job or simultaneously balancing course work between two graduate schools.  Whenever I read an inspiring post on the Truman Scholar Association (TSA) list-serve, attend a TSA event, or meet potential future Scholars at the dinner before their finalist interview, I am reminded of the calling to serve—at home and abroad—that we all have the privilege to heed.  The Scholarship is all about the community—collaborating and learning from each other and taking pride in the initiatives, courage, and successes of our peers.  Thank you for continuing to inspire.    

Andrew Klaber (IL ’03) is the Founder and President of Orphans Against AIDS