New Stars Shine

Hello! It has come to that point again, where I feel the inner urge to splurge. Rather than high street shops I much prefer to set up a good JustGiving page, and start raising money. This month my focus is on Kenya. I want to work with Youth Stop Aids in Brighton to raise money for a small childrens' home called Biwati. In Kenya there are 1.5 million people living with HIV (UNAIDS Gap Report 2016), with over 35,000 AIDs related deaths, making HIV/AIDS joint fourth in the largest HIV epidemic. More specifically, over 190,000 children in 2013 died of AIDS related illnesses. Children are more commonly infected through mother-to-child transmission, either during childbirth, breastfeeding, or during pregnancy. Youth Stop Aids aim to end the statistics, and put an end to HIV/AIDS by 2030. They are youth-led and speak out to ensure governments, global institutions and corporations are doing their bit. They work on empowering young people across the globe. By ending the stigmas ...

On March 16th 2017, a collective of intelligent, passionate young people came together in support of Youth Stop Aids. Youth Stop Aids is a movement campaigning to end AIDS by 2030. As a brilliant man once put: 'In the face of the grave threat posed by HIV/AIDS, we have to rise above our differences and combine our efforts to save our people. History will judge us harshly if we fail to do so now, and right now' - Nelson Mandela (International AIDS conference, 2000) With DFID Minister. 17 years on, and we are still campaigning, still raising awareness and still reducing the stigmas around HIV/AIDS. New infections fell by 38% and we are no longer referring to HIV/AIDS as a death sentence.   I ventured to London on the 16th March, arriving fairly early on a sunny London morning I was greeted by a sea of volunteers, we each shared our stories on why we were here and why we think it was important. The campaign this particular day was called, 'It Ai...