WE-ACTx

1/29/19 Dear friends, Escaping the weather and Trump with another stay in Kigali.  Always makes me feel guilty, but I do have lots to share with you about the work and challenges facing the WE-ACTx program here. Most exciting news first.  At a national meeting to review new 2019 Rwandan Ministry of Health HIV management […]

Dear Friends: It is wonderful to be back in Kigali. The disbelief and outrage about Trump’s racist comments on Haiti and Africa are palpable.  No one can believe he is the President; but some worry that he is giving a license to others in the U.S. who might share these prejudicial views about Africa and […]

. http://www.we-actx.org/donations/ December 2017 Dear friends and WE-ACTx supporters, Last month, the New York Times ran a story on the “used clothes” conflict between the United States and East African countries including Rwanda. The title of the article was For Dignity and Development, East Africa Curbs Used Clothes Imports. The U.S. seeks to continue exporting second hand clothes (global wholesale […]

February 4, 2017 Dear friends Like many of you, I joined in the Women’s March on January 21. The next day, I left Washington DC for Kigali. It has been difficult to keep up with each terrible assault/insult and the powerful resistance, but it’s almost impossible not to think about it all the time. Our […]

July 30, 2016   I am once again privileged and moved to offer you summer greetings  from Kigali.    WE-ACTx has now been working here for 13 years, with the work officially led by our local partner WE-ACTx For Hope (WFH) for the past 7.   To get a good feel for our program view this […]

Dear friends Thank you so much for your generous response to WE-ACTx’s annual appeal. Your support helps continue the high quality and innovative programs of WE-ACTx For Hope (WFH), our Rwandan partner. Without your support, little of the good work and exciting progress described below could continue. Thus as I begin another new year in […]

Dear all The rainy season has ended in Kigali and the weather is dry and warm. Many colleagues here have friends and neighbors who are housing those who’ve come from Burundi. Thousands from Burundi also live in terrible conditions in camps 2 hours from Kigali. Travel and business has been disrupted between the two countries. […]

Writer Ken Carlton created a lovely photo essay to tell the story of WE-ACTx. If you’d like to read it and see the pictures, his blog is found at this address:   http://kencarlton.net/ramenblog/2015/2/21/can-anyone-really-make-a-difference

2/2/15 Heroes and Schools Dear friends Today is the celebration of Heroes Day in Kigali, a national holiday every February 1st, to honor heroic actions of those who died for Rwanda during the genocide. The WE-ACTx For Hope clinic is closed, as are all schools and most businesses, so I am able to pause and […]

www.we-actx.org December 1, 2014   Dear Friends, This year WE-ACTx celebrates 10 years of high quality, comprehensive and innovative care for women and children with HIV, and their families. Hundreds of supporters in Kigali in June, Chicago in October, and Boston in November joined together to acknowledge this anniversary and a decade of accomplishments made […]

The 2014 10 year WE-ACTx Chicago celebration was an evening of good feelings, friendships, and succesful fundraising.   Many thanks to all those who organized and  joined us to suport WE-ACTx.  More than $42,000 was raised through tickets, donations, on line and silent auctions, and the Fund a Need Auction .    The Latin School […]

Dear friends Last Sunday WE-ACTx celebrated 10 years in Rwanda with a giant anniversary party in Kigali.  Over 400 children in pink and black T- shirts (silkscreened by Dutette, one of the income generation cooperatives of WE-ACTx For Hope patients) came with their parents to sing, dance, hear speeches and testimonials, and enjoy a buffet […]

Kigali, January 2014 Dear friends 2014 is the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda and preparations are underway here for this difficult period.  The genocide memorial torch was lit in early January and will be carried countrywide concluding on April 7, the beginning of the 100-day national mourning period.  Many activities are planned for learning, commemoration, and […]

by Jessca Early, a nursing student, during her second  time volunteering with WE-ACTx in Kigali In late May—after a day spent napping off the jet lag from my trans-Atlantic, multiple layover, journey from Boston to Rwanda—I found myself sitting in a plastic lawn chair squeezed into a small medical exam room at the Women’s Equity […]

July 2013 Dear friends, It’s official.  Two weeks ago, the Minister of Health accredited WE-ACTx For Hope (WE-ACTx’s vibrant partner in Rwanda, led by Chantal Benekigeri) to manage the clinic in downtown Kigali—a very exciting step toward helping ensure local control, responsibility and sustainability.   WE-ACTx For Hopes’s forty Rwandan staff provide medical and psychosocial care […]

Gender inequities in sexual risks among youth with HIV in Kigali, Rwanda Understanding the experiences of youth living with HIV (YLH) is necessary for implementing interventions that mitigate HIV transmission. We conducted a survey of sexual behaviours and sources of knowledge among 107 youths aged 16-24 attending two HIV clinics in Kigali, Rwanda. Read the […]

Exciting news!  Youth Ending Stigma (Y.E.S.), a youth group committed to ending stigma about HIV in Rwanda, started by WE-ACTx patients, has been named a finalist for the $25,000 Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership.  Aime Ndorimana, one of the staff of WE-ACTx for Hope and member of Y.E.S. will be in Kalamazoo […]

Dear friends, I’m writing you this brief note during a short stay in Rwanda to tell you about two new exciting developments within WE-ACTx  in Rwanda. The dedicated and enthusiastic WE-ACTx Rwandan staff continues to deliver extraordinarily respectful treatment to over 2300 patients with HIV. The HIV protocol in Rwanda starts patients on regimens similar […]

Dear friends: Before I share my thoughts and news from this visit to the WE-ACTx project in Rwanda this month, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your generous big and small end-of-year contributions to WE-ACTx. They all add up, to a sustained and (as you will read) continuously growing and […]

Dear friends, Summer is an especially exciting time for the young patients at WE-ACTx here in Kigali. On June 16 we celebrated Day of the African Child (DAC). Over 800 children, youth and family came together to acknowledge how well these young folks who are living with HIV are doing. Everyone received a new green […]