In 'Phantom' Countries

When you mention your destination country to local Africans and they look at you questioningly and say "I've never heard of that country before" you know that you are straying far from the beaten path, even for Africa.  

Central African Republic (CAR) has been called a 'Phantom' country; though it's experienced decades of instability, war, genocide, political coups, and draught, it has gained little visibility in the global arena.  Locked in a cycle that keeps it from gaining needed access to aid, CAR's internal upheavals do not register high enough on the humanitarian richter scale to gain media attention; donors do not hear about it's needs; non-profits therefore have no funding to respond; CAR's infrastructure continues to deteriorate while crime increases, jointly reducing the impact the few NGO's present there are having... And the cycle continues.     

Irrespective of this struggle, BWM is stepping forward to engage in an AIDS epidemic that is threatening to wipe out an entire generation.  Our presence in CAR began in 2005 with a partnership that helped launch a model for sustainable water projects, and it's on the foundations of these community relationships that we hope to implement a comprehensive model for HIV/AIDS engagement.  

Joseway, the AIDS program director of our partner organization in CAR, wove a story of the impact the virus is having on people in the country as poverty, cultural practices, and ignorance drive high-risk behaviors that have led to rapid transmission of AIDS through cities, villages, and even schools.  His own story of holding the frail body of his friend and brother as his systems collapsed one by one under the strain the AIDS virus, drives the compelling emotion behind his voice as he asks why no one has stepped up to empower organizations in CAR to fight against AIDS.  "We need to see more aggressive efforts in our AIDS work here.  I am not satisfied with just educational messaging - we cannot respond to the true needs." His is a vision for a multifaceted engagement of the AIDS crisis that will stretch across CAR.  

This is the story Blood:Water is writing.  We are excited to be a voice for a country no one has heard of and the champion for those that have had no advocate.  We will be a part of a solution that will transform how organizations approach AIDS and equip them with skills to scale and replicate community-based programs that in turn network with health structures within the country.  We will leverage the relational capital earned through water programs and partner with Africans in changing the future of their own country.

It's a story we hope you will write with us because it's as much your story as it is ours and theirs.  You helped write the first chapters in Water.  Come join us in the next saga as we fight against AIDS.