AIDS Orphans - Tree of Life Gallery

Tree of Life Gallery

4775 N. 20th St.

Phoenix, AZ 85016

(602) 955-4228

AIDS Orphans

Africa is a continent of unparalleled beauty. A place that conjures up visions of big game in the shadow of Kilimanjaro, Zambezi sunsets and romantic Nile river cruises. However, behind this travel brochure facade exists a beast that's tearing out the heart and future of a continent. This beast is disease - namely AIDS and malaria.

Over 75% of the world's 49 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS live in Africa. In the countries of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland nearly 40% of the adult population is currently infected with the virus. The African continent also accounts for 90% of all malaria cases - a staggering 300 million annually.

To put the HIV/AIDS and malaria pandemics into perspective here's how the current situation and 5-year projections for Africa compare to the death tolls for other major disasters and events in world history. Remember, there is presently no cure for AIDS.

The Black Death (1347-54)	135,000,000
World War II	45,000,000
HIV/AIDS Infections in Africa (current)	37,000,000
AIDS Orphans in Africa (by 2010)	25,000,000
World War I (1914-18)	15,000,000
Child Malaria Deaths in Africa (2005-10)	10,000,000
The Holocaust (1941-45)	6,000,000
Korean War (1950-53)	2,800,000
Ethiopian Famine (1984)	800,000
Rwanda Genocide (1994)	800,000
US Civil War (1861-65)	600,000
Asian Tsunami (2004)	225,000
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Atomic Bombs (1945)	120,000
9/11 Terrorist Attacks (2001)	3,063

The Asian Tsunami disaster touched the hearts of people and governments throughout the world triggering a phenomenal outpouring of support - and quite rightly so.

The Tsunami Relief Effort stated that "The Tsunami Disaster has affected all of us, no one can change what happened, but we can all change what happens next." But what is next? Natural disasters are very difficult to predict. What we know for certain is that in the next 30 days, 250,000 African children will die of malaria or be orphaned by AIDS.

So help us change what we know is going to happen.

C h i l d r e n W i t h A I D S P r o j e c t

Jim Jenkins and his former wife Joy, adopted two abandoned infants that both tested positive for AIDS antibodies at birth. One was also addicted at birth to cocaine, heroine, and methadone.

Although both children did ultimately flush their Mothers AIDS antibodies out of their system and tested negative to the virus .. the Jenkins and their children had to deal with extraordinary difficulties and discrimination issues with the general public and "The System." It was due to these difficulties that formed the Children With AIDS Project of America (CWA) for the purpose of recruiting families to provide loving, caring parents for HIV infected, affected and orphaned children.

CWA has received over 50,000 requests for information over the years and have recruited and maintain a computer database 500+ families that are certified to adopt an HIV child. Over the years CWA has been involved with a significant number of adoptions.

Fast forwarding through the trials and tribulations of adoption and rearing, both children now test negative to the AIDS antibodies. Because of the many difficulties and barriers they encountered in their adoption they formed the Children With AIDS Project of America, in 1988, to recruit families to provide loving, caring, permanent homes for these HIV infected, affected and orphaned children.

Jim's efforts have led to his being named to the faculty of UC Berkeley for one week, a meeting at the White House and in Phoenix AZ with Hillary Clinton, a meeting with then U.S. Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, house guest of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross at her Healing Waters Farm in CA and many other stops in between. Jim has also made hundreds of presentations to groups ranging in size from as few at 3 to as many as 7,500 people.

Jim has now expanded his efforts to include finding homes for AIDS orphans. He has also expanded globally to creating programs and seeking funding to provide medical, financial, and other means of support to the extraordinary number of orphaned HIV infected children from areas in the world like Africa, Mexico, India, Asia .

Jim extends an invitation for you to visit their very popular Internet web site as it receives over 125,000 visitors per month and is a great source of children and AIDS information that grade school students through doctoral candidates have found most useful: http://www.aidskids.org

Jim's son, James Michael, had this conversation with his Dad a few years ago.

“Dad I saw on Channel One (a cable news show for schools) that AIDS drugs are really cheap in Africa.”

I said “Really?” He responded “Yes, and I would really like to have you find a way that Children With AIDS Project (CWA) could raise money so we can buys AIDS drugs for those poor children in Africa!”

Resulting from this conversation the seeds were sown and the Tree of Life Gallery became a reality. Currently we are providing a helping hand and support for two faith based organizations who are operating orphanages in Africa.