“BLING OF HOPE”: Traditional Bead Bracelet Project Sponsoring HIV Positive Clients

Since starting the charity product line to help fund our outreach and clients’ access to treatment I’ve been brainstorming ways to help clients in our rural community fund ongoing treatment. Initially, I wanted all positive clients to visit our Co-op for income generating projects. However, since our outreach communities are very far from our Co-op in Accra it became pretty much unfeasible, and expensive, for most of our rural clients to travel 2 hours each way. Therefore, I came up with the “Bling of Hope” bead bracelet project. These are bracelets made of Ghanaian stone, clay, and recycled glass beads created with traditional techniques. Each bracelet is assembled by an HIV positive client and comes with a tag that states: “ this bracelet funds access to HIV treatment for its maker for 1 month” , and the name of the village where the maker lives.

Visit our online charity boutique to pledge a life now with this bracelet: http://www.thesankofacenter.org/store/ 

 

The “Bling of Hope” Bracelets provide a way to exponentially meet the ongoing demands of our growing list of HIV positive clients who are employed making the bracelets in the convenience of their village. The bracelets fund clients’ initial trip to Nswawam Hospital to be introduced to their care team and income gained from making each bracelet ensures they will have enough funds to revisit the hospital each month to receive treatment.

 

 

We aim to make a portion of each bracelet to go towards a bulk food purchasing fund for Co-ops we have scattered throughout our outreach communities. These will be nexus’ centrally located throughout our outreach communities where our HIV positive clients can pick-up supplies for making the bead bracelets and get supplementary food supplies. The Co-ops distribute food stocks such as nutritious brown rice, beans, and kuntumbre ( spinach) to make sure HIV positive clients have enough calories to support their drug regime. Lack of adequate food is a MAJOR issue with the effectiveness and adherence to HIV drugs in Ghana. The food stocks are not a handout but rather bulk food purchased from the sale of “Bling of Hope” bracelets that are produced by HIV positive clients. Each client gets his or her appropriate share of food stocks based on the bracelets they make.

 

“Over the years I have felt a lot of anxiety because despite the fact that we are doing a great service educating people about HIV/AIDS, providing free testing, and linking them to treatment there were still many who fell through the cracks of care because of poverty.” – my candid truth

Now, instead of a rural woman or man being told life threatening news making an already difficult life even more challenging we can offer them a plan to finance and manage their HIV disease. It’s important for people to understand one can still live a productive life after HIV diagnosis and I’m so happy that this is becoming possible through “Bling of Hope” bracelets… Our service finally feels more complete and full.

 

“BLING OF HOPE” HOSPITAL TRIP-

“Thanks Giving Day, 2011”

 

Thanks to awesome “Bling of Hope” bracelet fundraising by Christine Payne, “Friends of The Sankofa Center” organizer at Ryerson University (Canada); and, our retail partners who purchased bulk orders of the bracelets this summer, our trip to the hospital was possible. We were successful in bringing most of our HIV positive clients to Nsawam Hopsital to meet their care providers and start them on the road to care!

The start of the day was stressful as we picked up our first clients scattered in different villages throughout our outreach communities. We’ve tested each of these clients in the past and our test results showed either positive reactions or had tests that were indeterminate. Having a “positive” test outcome is never a one-test process so the hope of some tests being false reactive was on my mind. I couldn’t help but worry about clients’ long term access to care. I then thought about transmissions or re-infections that may have occurred since we first tested them, how many people passed the virus to loved ones and partners out of health ignorance, and the weight of my own personal responsibility in this process.

 

 

By the close of the day, as expected most of our clients were confirmed HIV positive and were given directions from the nursing staff to return for bio tests to see which treatment combination to begin.

 

 

 

Most notably was a young pregnant mother-to-be, only 22 years old, and her young husband. Both were HIV positive but the young woman will be placed on treatment immediately which GREATLY reduces the chance of her baby being born HIV positive. It’s pretty amazing to see first-hand how a few bracelets purchased back in Canada and Los Angeles by friends, family, and supporters literally saved the life of an unborn child months later during this chance trip to the hospital in Nsawam, Ghana…. Thank you “Bling of Hope”!

 

Help us continue to provide “Bling of Hope” trips to clinics for all our HIV positive clients and purchase some bracelets today for yourself, friends, or as a gift in someone’s name…  

Shop our charity’s online store here: http://thesankofacenter.org/store/

Remember all of our products support the continuation of our outreach and each “Bling of Hope” bracelet funds access to treatment for 1 month!!!

Keep posted,

Best from Ghana!

Ronnie

After years of techno procrastination we finally have an ongoing blog to share and connect! The Sankofa Center has evolved over time with strings of volunteers, interns, and supporters all doing their part to help our efforts continue in Ghana so to each and every one of you… Madase Paa!! (THANK YOU)

 Spread the word about our blog to friends, associates, and the like.  Also…. Please message me if you are involved with any relating issues surrounding our work so we can share with our subscribers. We’d love to feature your goodwill in our blogs on our “Good People Network”. Everyday I’m reminded of the fact that there are still so many good people in our world and we’d like to connect for inspiration and appreciation!

Click here to shop our online charity store benefiting our outreach and HIV positive clients:http://thesankofacenter.org/store/

 

The Sankofa Center:

Since 2004 we’ve maintained a volunteer outreach program in Ghana in which teams of western volunteers/interns and our local Ghanaian staff tour different villages staging arts-based HIV/AIDS performances. Since most of our outreach audience is functionally illiterate we use African-dance dramas to provide a more culturally appropriate teaching tool. Our dance-dramas illuminate facts about HIV transmission but also show examples of how misinformation, stigma, and discrimination work to keep fear, blame, and hate alive to hinder compassionate progress.

 

We then use picture cards to help our rural clients understand the basics about the virus, the fluids in the body where HIV lives, and common places of entry for various types of events( sex, mother-to-child, blood-to blood). Equally as important, we provide “client –centered” ways of helping the individual reduce their risks. This means there is no “one size fits all” solution such as mandating “abstinence” for EVERYONE. Instead, we offer various ways to reduce personal risk based on the reality of the individual without bias or prejudice.

 

 

In 2007 we began to conduct rapid HIV testing on the spot immediately after our performances. Most of the villages we visit have reactive tests ( possibly positive) so we’ve partnered with Nswawam Hospital to refer our clients for secondary testing; and, when necessary to begin treatment. However, over the years we’ve come to understand the stark reality that most of our clients don’t seek early diagnosis and treatment on their own. This is because most are very poor, often living in disconnected communities on the outskirts of the bustling city of Accra. So even if they realized the importance of going to the hospital there is just frankly never enough money to afford the low cost transportation to the clinic. So medical conditions are ignored since day to day survival is more pressing until more advanced HIV/AIDS sets in.

 

 

In response,the charity has created a fundraising Fair Trade product line with a growing following featured in Vogue, retail boutiques in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Germany. I design the complete line made by our growing HIV cooperative at the Sankofa Center village compound in Ghana. Our line is now available online so help us continue our impact and purchase a gift that gives back in so many ways! Shop our unique boutique here:           http://thesankofacenter.org/store/

Read our next blog on the “Bling of Hope” bead bracelet project!