Soweto Connection

Soweto Connection is an Irish-based not-for-profit organisation that helps communities in South Africa to cope with HIV/AIDS. It was set up in November 2003 to raise funds to make urgent treatment available to HIV/AIDS patients, to provide home-based care to sufferers, to build the infrastructure and capacity to deliver day-care services, and to assist in HIV/AIDS prevention services.

Background
In South Africa there are millions of people who are HIV-positive. The number of HIV/AIDS victims and affected families is growing everyday, and the situation is now getting quite desperate in many communities. Families lack money not only for basic medical care, but for food and clothes. They are burdened with the high cost of funerals and medical treatment, and as a result the HIV/AIDS epidemic pushes households and whole communities deeper and deeper into poverty. There is no social welfare, and many of the households are headed up by children or aged grandparents as the parents have died. More and more people are dying from AIDS, and the health sector is unable to cope. Throughout the country there are many community groups who are working with people affected by HIV/AIDS. They work on the ground, with little or no overhead, so all the resources they have go straight towards helping the people who need it. They provide basic nourishment and nutrition to sufferers, medical care and emergency relief with whatever drugs they can afford, and they provide information services and broader orphan and family support services. Soweto Connection was set up in November 2003 to raise funds in Ireland to help these groups to continue or to expand their much-needed services. The money collected makes urgent treatment available to HIV/AIDS patients, provides home-based care to sufferers, and assists in HIV/AIDS prevention services.

Founders
Soweto Connection was founded by Sheila Killian and John Lannon, two Irish people living in South Africa. The idea to fundraise in Ireland for South African HIV/AIDS support groups came through personal contacts. The first connections were with friends and acquaintances in Soweto, a township just outside Johannesburg. They presented an opportunity to use the generosity of friends in social groups and workplaces in Ireland to address a small part of the grave need that existed in South Africa. Several years later, practical help is being delivered to groups and organisations in many parts of South Africa.