Non-profit charity improving the life for children with HIV/AIDS in Latin America-Honduras

Grand Rapids, Michigan Pottery Event – Wealthy At Charles – All Are Welcome!

Honduran Lenca Pottery

We hope our Grand Rapids, Michigan area friends will join us Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 11:30 – 3:00 p.m. at the unique downtown boutique Wealthy At Charles, 738 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan (www.wealthyatcharles.com) for a Honduran Lenca Pottery Sale. Executive Director Christine Frederick will be on hand at the store from 11:30 – 3:00 to answer questions, along with Program Director Carolina from Caminando Con Niños in Honduras.

The art of Lenca pottery is presently being restored by a small population of native Honduran women who have formed groups to create this unique Pre-Columbian art of their people dating back 1,500 years. Each piece is hand-made using natural native materials from Honduras.

All are welcome to join us, browse, and learn more about Walking With Children. Bring a friend and enjoy the afternoon in this vibrant area of Grand Rapids. Sales of Lenca pottery will help orphaned and vulnerable children living with HIV, as well as the craftspeople in poor Honduran communities who depend on it for their livelihood. If you cannot make it this Saturday, visit Wealthy At Charles at your leisure, as they will continue to sell Lenca pottery to benefit Walking With Children in the coming weeks. Many thanks to our friends at Wealthy At Charles for their support!

YouTube Video – Walking With Children

To hear families describe in their own words how Walking With Children has helped them, click on the following link: YouTube – Walking With Children

Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV

THE GOAL: Eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015, and keep mothers alive and healthy. Ambitious yet achievable, this goal emerged from the strategic planning sessions at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS in June 2011.

Walking With Children embraces this goal. Together with our Honduran partner, Caminando Con Niños, Walking With Children will:

Ensure women who are HIV positive reach the medical system in time to receive the proper treatment to prevent HIV transmission to their child;
Encourage all pregnant women to have an HIV test as soon as possible;
Educate beneficiaries about HIV and how to prevent transmission;
Follow HIV positive mothers after the child is born to make sure the child is getting appropriate medicine and receiving medical follow-up and HIV testing;
Educate beneficiaries about the importance of taking their medication to stay healthy and lower the risk of vertical transmission;
Counsel beneficiaries on self-esteem issues, making better choices, using pregnancy prevention strategies when they are HIV positive or under age, so behaviors that lead to HIV risk are reduced;
Provide formula for babies of HIV positive mothers to bridge the gap between 6 months of age (when government supplied formula ends) and 12 months (before infants can drink cow’s milk), and during times when government supplies are insufficient.

Working together with this global vision in mind, we hope to see an end to mother-to-child HIV transmission by the year 2015!