Working full-time and with a five-year-old daughter to care for as well as coping with the gradual loss of her mother to Alzheimer’s disease, Fay hired a highly recommended Ugandan, Regina, as a caregiver. A strong friendship grew between the two. In early 2002, Regina asked Fay and her family to come to Uganda to meet her family. The journey changed Fay’s life forever. Fay witnessed an Uganda torn by an ongoing civil war and an AIDS pandemic that has taken the lives of countless young people, often the parents of small children. Fay asked Regina what she could do to help. Their discussion inspired Fay to establish the Angels of Hope (AOH) Free Clinics in Uganda.
Fay and her family began by bringing 500 pounds of supplies to a small village located just ten miles outside of Kampala, where Fay would establish the first Angels of Hope Free Clinic. Loaned a small, derelict storefront in which to set up this new clinic, Fay drew upon her training in architecture and experience as Project Manager in construction for various colleges and universities to turn the storefront into a clinic. Regina’s family found workers to help, and together they transformed the space into a two-room clinic in less than three weeks. Since then, a number of other clinics have opened in other parts of the country, several of which the local communities now oversee. Registered nurses run the clinics, and a doctor attends when the need arises. As some of the remote villages are too far for older patients to make the journey, one of the nurses visits them, often by motor scooter. At the most recently opened clinic in Mattuga, the facility provides additional space should patients need to stay overnight for special care.
One of the most far-reaching of AOH initiatives includes the establishment of the Birthing Center for women with HIV/AIDS. By providing pre-natal care, safe births, and post-natal care and training, the Birthing Center helps reduce the risk of mothers transmitting HIV/AIDS to their infants. The clinic also reinforces hygiene and healthcare critical in thwarting communicable diseases commonly found in Uganda, such as TB and other respiratory illnesses. In addition to medical care, Angels of Hope provides other services as well, including scholarship money for children to attend school, along with a continuing commitment to support these poorer students until they have matriculated into university.
A non- profit organization, AOH’s funds come solely from personal donations and small business commitments. The US staff serves on a voluntary basis. Fay devotes herself full-time to Angels of Hope, undertaking the fundraising, speaking engagements, and presentations at schools and organizations to educate the public about the plight of the children of Uganda. Her organization currently partners with WGBH, a PBS affiliate in Boston, and with the Gates Foundation-funded project, Rx for Child Survival. Fay DeAvignon is a one-woman army. Her campaign has had a dramatic impact. Since its inception in 2002, Angels of Hope has treated over 5,000 patients. But Fay will not rest until others join her battle: Globally, every fourteen seconds, a child loses a parent to AIDS, and of the 2.4 million orphans in Uganda today, 1.7 million of whom lost their parents as a direct result of the AIDS Pandemic.
To learn more about Fay and her cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: www.angelsofhopeuganda.org.
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