Team Afrika(AIDS Walk)&Truth Circle at Safari DC Oct 2nd

[Jonny]

Team Afrika - Truth Circle at Safari DC Oct 2nd, AIDS Walk Washington DC Oct 3rd‏

From: Frank Minja
Sent: Tue 9/22/09 11:17 AM
To:
Cc:


Good People -

We have two exciting events coming up w Team Afrika:

1. Friday Oct 2nd, 6:30 to 8pm "Truth Circle" at Safari DC, VIP room.
This will be a free flow discussion led by our sister Dr. Mehret Mandefro, one of the founders of www.truthaids.org
Many of you will find this event both educational and entertaining, and you might even meet someone interesting
ps. Safari DC has some of the best nyama choma and chapati on this East Coast, served with Tusker baridi

2. Saturday Oct 3rd, 8 to 10 AM, AIDS Walk Washington DC
Thanks to everyone (all 4 brave souls) who have already signed up to join Team Afrika. Both Asteria and I have received
many more shout outs of "moral support" - which is really great for our self esteem - but moral support and good intentions
do very little for our people living with HIV. How about giving a little, or even better showing up to walk with us and them ?

Sign up is real easy, and your contribution really helps the Whitman Walker Clinic - which provides excellent HIV care in the
Washington DC area: www.aidswalkwashington.org

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Lastly, I am pleased to report we almost have enough funds for 2 of 5 Team Tanzania Scholar awards: www.firstgiving.com/teamtanzaniascholar

Fall Blessings

Frank Minja & Asteria Hyera
Co-Captains Team Afrika

 

_________________
Opportunities are never lost, someone will take the ones you miss.

[Jonny]

The following is a clarification response to several questions that were asked regarding this event. This may answer some questions that you may have as well...


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On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 7:19 AM, Frank Minja <frank> wrote:

Thanks all for sharing this interesting thread - few points of clarification:

1. The event at Safari DC is not mainly about drinking Tusker baridi. I mentioned it in the same way someone would say "wine and cheese" will be served at a reception. Now if you come to the reception just for the wine, that is another story

2. The main issue at hand as Johnson reminds us, is that the HIV epidemic disproportionately affects people of African descent, worldwide. Every statistic since 1990 points to this fact. Yet, where are African people when it comes to efforts at addressing the epidemic? I can tell you now, there will be way more people of non African descent at the AIDS Walk. If you are OK w this, then i am not sure these two events will be worth ur time

3. No single effort is a panacea for our problems. We really need to stop looking for that magic bullet or Messiah, to solve all of our problems. What we are trying to do is get a few folks together, to try and do something. Every little bit helps, and little by little we will get the
job done. The only question for us, is whether we will be players or spectators in our destiny?

4. Liz I really commend you on efforts for Leukemia - and that is such awesome news about your cousin doing well enough to run a marathon.

5. Richard - the email announcement goes out to a huge audience, following both Team Afrika and Team Tanzania. The links are self explanatory in terms of what the fundraising is for. In brief, funds raised by Team Afrika go the Whitman Walker Clinic which provides HIV care to underserved/uninsured HIV patients in Washington DC; funds raised by Team Tz will provide 5 merit awards to the best medical students at Bugando Medical School in Mwanza Tanzania.

6. I really hope to meet many of you at Safari and/or the AIDS Walk to continue this thread in person. In the meantime, this brief video from our first AIDS Walk event in 2005 captures the essence of Team Afrika: http://teamafrika.org/movie.aspx

ps. Johnson feel free to post this reply on the K forum if it helps.

Karibuni Sana

Frank

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_________________
Opportunities are never lost, someone will take the ones you miss.