Orphans Against AIDS in the News

Thanda Project Founder Angela Larkan Featured in Elle magazine
May 2012
Clarins Most Dynamic Woman of the Year in 2011, Angela Larkan, is featured in the May issue of Elle magazine: http://fashion.elle.com/life-and-love/2012/05/14/thanda-means-love/

OAA Raises $30,000 at Gala Benefit
May 2012
Held at Exit Art on Tuesday, May 8th, the second annual OAA gala benefit raised $30,000 to support the education, healthcare, and nutrition of children affected by HIV/AIDS.  Proceeds were generated from ticket sales, an art auction, and jewelery sales.  A big thanks to all 300 individuals who attended.

Support Thembanathi's Global Giving Campaign
December 2011
This December Thembanathi is partaking in the Global Giving Campaign, the goals of which are twofold: to raise funds for a child development center in a South African community struggling with poverty, unemployment, and one of the highest HIV rates in the world and to become an ongoing part of Global Giving. Global Giving provides social entrepreneurs and nonprofits with the opportunity to raise funds at scale, allowing these organizations to improve their communities. To become an ongoing part of Global Giving, Thembanathi must--within the month of December--procure donations from at least 50 individuals and raise a minimum of $4,000. Please help us meet our goal this holiday season. To learn more, visit our project page on the Global Giving website.

Thanda Project Chosen for Levi's Go Forth Global Campaign
September 2011
Thanda has been selected as one of five outstanding social enterprises in Levi's Go Forth campaign (http://goforth.levi.com/en).  Levi's Go Forth campaign is a rallying cry to create positive social change in the world by showcasing courageous efforts that are "tackling the greatest challenges of our time."

Thembanathi Project Poised for Growth, Building New Creche Facility
August 2011
Combating Umkhanyankude District's 25% HIV/AIDS prevalence, Thembanathi is constructing a new crèche (day care facility), which will accommodate 15 to 20 children in Phase I (2012) and 25 to 30 children in Phase II (2013). The crèche will be community-led and calls for environmentally friendly elements, such as solar panels, rainwater collection, and a composting toilet.

OAA Receives Grant from the Fairfield County Community Foundation
January 2011
In recognition of OAA's commitment to providing youths orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS with academic scholarships, nutrition, and health care, Orphans Against AIDS received a generous grant from the Fairfield County Community Foundation-Donor Advised Fund.  Established in 1992, the Fairfield County Community Foundation (www.fccfoundation.org), which awarded $11.5 million in grants during its past fiscal year, "promotes philanthropy to build and sustain a vital and prosperous community where all have the opportunity to participate and thrive."

Thanda Project Wins 2010 Mzanzi Soul Award for Innovation, Ubuntu, & Entrepreneurship
December 2010
OAA's Thanda Project was recently voted winner of the 2010 South African Mzanzi Soul Award for Innovation, Ubuntu, and Entrepreneurship.  In recognition of this and additional accolades, Thanda received an award and donation from Willowton Oil, which honors Thanda's contribution to positive social change in the lives of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Truman Scholars Association: Providing Access to Education for AIDS Orphans
August 2010
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... Orphans Against 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. Read more...

Salisbury Post: Educating Students in South Africa
June 2010
Jake Master's efforts have grown into the Dikatole Scholarship Fund. In 2006, eight children, kindergartners, were identified as high achievers and given scholarships. That number has now grown to 13. A gift of $3,000 provides education for each child through 12th grade, which includes uniforms and school supplies... A book drive yielded some 15,000 books, which will go to Laekerskool Germiston Primary School and Ekurhuleni School. More are going to an after-school program [Thanda] in Durban. Read more...

Harvard Business School: HBS Students Honored for Service to the School & Society
May 2010
Eight members of the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2010 have been named winners of the School's prestigious Dean's Award... Klaber continues to serve as president of Orphans Against AIDS (OAA), an all-volunteer organization he founded while an undergraduate at Yale. Today, this international nonprofit provides academic scholarships and healthcare to more than 600 children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS... Indeed, one HBS faculty member who nominated him for the Dean's Award described him as "the most exceptional social entrepreneur I have met during my time at the School." Read more...

Westport News: Doctor Humbled by Experience Helping Orphans in South Africa
April 2010
Weston resident Dr. Charles Morgan, the chairman of psychiatry at Bridgeport Hospital, has the means to travel anywhere in the world. He could vacation in Bermuda, Italy, or anywhere else for that matter, if he so desired. But rather than heading off to where ocean water is crystal clear, or visiting the sights of Rome, Morgan spent the latter half of March in the region of Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa, working with Thanda, a nonprofit organization under Orphans Against Aids dedicated to providing support for orphans of AIDS and other vulnerable children. More specifically, Morgan worked with the 20-something-year-old men and women counselors/teachers at the Thanda After-School Project, a new low-resource approach to unemployment, HIV/AIDS, and the orphan crisis in Kwa Zulu-Natal. Read more...

Daily O''Collegian: Student Makes an Impact with the Power of Thanda
April 2010
Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a cup of juice may be an afternoon snack for many of us, but for some it is their only meal all day. Children in South Africa can rely on receiving this meal thanks to the “thanda” of a local organization. Thanda means “love” in Zulu. There seems to be no shortage of just that in Thanda, an after-school program geared toward HIV/AIDS orphans and other impoverished youth in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. Read more...

CNN: Empowering Orphans of AIDS in Rural South Africa
December 2009
“‘Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness.’ It is written in graffiti at the Durban skatepark and it describes Nosipho better than anything I can say right now...”  I read that in an email I received earlier this year from the co-founder and director of Thanda After-School, an organization in rural South Africa that supports orphans of AIDS and other vulnerable children. I’d met Angela Larkan, the girl who sent the email, a few times over the past two years while helping her fundraise in New York City. She’s only a year older than I am, but she has more poignant worldly insight than anyone I can think of. Read more...

Wesleyan University Alumni Magazine: Life in Africa--Learning Humility
Fall 2009
Last year was exhausting as we threw ourselves into starting the Thanda After-School project. We set up what was needed?a system of care for orphans of AIDS and vulnerable children. And this year, we have roots. We’re adding 100 more children and are empowering local staff to develop and run the program themselves; to own Thanda in their rural community. Read more...

Gates Scholars' Alumni Association: Youth Social Entrepreneurship
May 2009
Increasingly, youth around the world are taking it upon themselves to address social challenges and effect positive community change. A new generation of socially responsible ventures has emerged that addresses urgent global and local issues such as health, poverty, violence, racism, environmental destruction and civic apathy. This wave of youth social entrepreneurship offers new set of solutions and energy, but also brings with it its own set of professional, financial and personal challenges. Read more...

Chronicle of Philanthropy: Global Charities Face the Recession
April 2009
The recession has prompted many American charities that work overseas to scale back programs, lay off workers, and put expansion plans on hold. Giving to many groups has fallen by at least 10 percent, with individuals contributing smaller amounts and some foundations committing less money to new projects than they had previously planned. But so far, charity leaders say, one of their biggest fears has not been realized: Only a small number of donors appear to be diverting their donations to domestic causes as they see the effects of the recession playing out in the United States. Read more...

United Arab Emirates Gulf News: Offering a Hand
March 2009
A big percentage of youth around the world are keen to take up social entrepreneurship deeds that can make societies better. Read more...

The Yale Club Philanthrophy Series: the Future
March 2009
Last year, a series of distinguished speakers visited The Yale Club to discuss the origins of America's foundations and their changing role in a global society. Now, we consider the future of philanthropy. Noted leaders and practitioners will visit the Yale Club Library do discuss how social entrepreneurs, grassroots activists, and community foundations are responding to these challenges — by blurring the lines between business and philanthropy, and thereby changing our perceptions of the art of giving. Read more...

Germiston City News: Laetitia Gets the Gift of Clear Sight
December 2008
This Christmas will be a happy one for little Laetitia Heneck (age 7). The youngster, who attends the Sacred Heart Child Care Centre, in Dikatole, was given a wonderful gift on December 1. Thanks to the efforts of 16-year old Jake Masters, Laetitia underwent corrective surgery for her severe squint. Her problem was noticed by Masters on one of his frequent visits to South Africa, during his school holidays.  Read more...

Daily Good: Today's Change Agents--Social Entrepreneurs
December 2008
In the '60s, perhaps the most remarkable change agents were the civil rights workers and antiwar protesters. Today the most remarkable young people are the social entrepreneurs, those who see a problem in society and roll up their sleeves to address it in new ways. Take Andrew Klaber, a 26-year-old playing hooky from Harvard Business School, who is an example of the social entrepreneur. He spent the summer after his sophomore year in college in Thailand and was aghast to see teenage girls being forced into prostitution after their parents had died of AIDS. So he started Orphans Against AIDS, which pays school-related expenses for hundreds of children who have been orphaned or otherwise affected by AIDS in poor countries. Read more...

Washington Post: For This Generation, Vocations of Service
October 2008
Social entrepreneurship, the movement in which people launch nonprofit or business ventures to address systemic problems in impoverished areas, emerged nearly three decades ago and is growing in appeal among young adults who want to help vulnerable people... In recent years, young people have started Orphans Against AIDS, a group that provides educational funding in a half-dozen countries for those left orphaned by HIV/AIDS; the Genocide Intervention Network, which, among other lobbying activities, funds civilian protection initiatives in areas of ongoing atrocities; and AYUDA (American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad), which gives insulin to diabetes sufferers in Latin America. Read more...

Voice of America: Social Entrepreneurs Changing the World One Person at a Time
August 2008
That experience inspired Klaber to found "Orphans against AIDS" in 2002. Since then, the non-profit organization has provided education and healthcare funding for children orphaned or otherwise affected by AIDS in developing countries... Many young people across the U.S. - like Klaber and Staple - are taking on the challenge of becoming social entrepreneurs, by identifying pressing social problems and, using their entrepreneurial skills to develop innovative solutions to change society for the better. Read more...

Harvard Law Today: A Young Entrepreneur Builds a Start-Up to Aid the Neediest
April 2008
Last January, Andrew Klaber ’09 was invited to Davos, Switzerland, to participate in the World Economic Forum with the world’s elite business, political and intellectual leaders. In a panel discussion about innovations in leadership, Klaber brought his message of social entrepreneurship to the world stage... “Throughout history, the model has been to learn, earn and then return,” Klaber said. “People in our generation want to do these things simultaneously—they want to learn while they are earning and give back at the same time, because they want to feel that sense of mission.” Read more...

New York Times: The Age of Ambition
January 2008
With the American presidential campaign in full swing, the obvious way to change the world might seem to be through politics. But growing numbers of young people are leaping into the fray and doing the job themselves. These are the social entrepreneurs, the 21st-century answer to the student protesters of the 1960s, and they are some of the most interesting people here at the World Economic Forum (not only because they’re half the age of everyone else). Andrew Klaber, a 26-year-old playing hooky from Harvard Business School to come here (don’t tell his professors!), is an example of the social entrepreneur. He spent the summer after his sophomore year in college in Thailand and was aghast to see teenage girls being forced into prostitution after their parents had died of AIDS. Read more...

Oxford Magazine: Orphans Against AIDS
Summer 2007
Andrew Klaber’s time in Oxford provided a perfect opportunity to develop Orphans Against AIDS, the non-profit organisation he first started while at Yale, following a trip to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. “I saw young girls working in the sex trade, because their parents had become sick as a result of AIDS and could no longer work.” says Klaber. “I thought that if we could subsidise the cost of
going to school by paying for academic fees, and other items like uniforms, books and basic healthcare, that would lower the opportunity cost of going to school, plus these young girls would learn about the risks of being in the sex trade, and about HIV/AIDS, and it would start a virtuous cycle.” Read more...

USA Today: Students Believe Education Paves Way to Better World
February 2003
Education isn't the fastest or easiest way to solve the world's problems, but members of the All-USA College Academic First Team see it as the most effective one... "This generation of leaders sees education as the most sustainable solution for the improvement of long-term global problems," says team member Andrew Klaber, a Yale junior. Read more...

Other Relevant Articles

Wall Street Journal: AIDS Researchers Report Breakthrough in HIV-Prevention Gel
July 2010
In a breakthrough that opens a new way to protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, researchers found that a gel applied by women before and after sex slashed the chance of acquiring the AIDS virus by 39% and the genital herpes virus by 51%. Read more...

Wall Street Journal: Antibody Kills 91% of HIV Strains; Step Toward AIDS Vaccine
July 2010
In a significant step toward an AIDS vaccine, U.S. government scientists have discovered three powerful antibodies, the strongest of which neutralizes 91% of HIV strains, more than any AIDS antibody yet discovered. Read more...

PlusNews.org: HIV Shifting to Less Educated
January 2008
AIDS has long been characterised as a disease of poverty that has spread most rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, the world's poorest region. But a new assessment has found a shift over the last decade in the socio-economic profile of Africans most likely to be infected with HIV. In 2001 a team led by Dr James Hargreaves of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) looked at studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, mostly before 1996, to determine whether there was an association between education levels and HIV infection. Read more...

New York Times: Patient Capital for an Africa That Can’t Wait
April 2007
Last week, I was touring northern Tanzania when our car passed the small town of Karatu and we suddenly came upon an open field splashed with colors so bright and varied it looked from afar as if someone had painted a 30-color rainbow on the landscape. As we got closer, I discovered that it was Karatu’s huge clothing market. Merchants had laid out blankets piled with multicolored shirts, pants and dresses, much of it used clothing from Europe, and were hawking their goods. Read more...