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“Kenyan AIDS-Orphaned Rescue Campaign” Holiday Benefit Drive Begins On World AIDS Day, December 1, 2004

Oakland, CA, November 29, 2004 - In support of World AIDS Day, Zawadi African Tea (www.zawadiafricantea.com), importers and wholesalers of fine black tea and chai from the highlands of Kenya, announced their second annual Kenyan AIDS-Orphaned Rescue Campaign Holiday benefit program. Zawadi African Tea will once again donate 50 percent of the sale of each of the Kenyan AIDS-Orphaned Rescue Campaign basket to the Kenyan AIDS Intervention Prevention Program Group (www. Kaippg.org). This year’s basket donations will in part go to purchase cell phones to provide communication between the head office, workers, and field volunteers working for the Orphans & Vulnerable Children Empowerment project.

KAIPPG’s Orphans & Vulnerable Children Empowerment Project, operating in the rural areas in Western Kenya, selects individual children based on the level of need and availability of resources to receive support. Through donations like that from Zawadi African Tea and others including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, KAIPPG ensures that each child admitted to the program is enrolled in school, provided with a guardian, educated about HIV/AIDS and general health issues, and provided with other immediate needs like clothing and supplies. In addition to helping the children, KAIPPG pays for training teachers in orphan care, school uniforms for orphans and even builds homes for guardians.

“Since 2000, we have been working with communities to address the scourge and impacts of AIDS and to improve, expand and diversify crop production, targeting households left most vulnerable by HIV/AIDS,” said James Onyango, Director of KAIPPG Kenya. “We have improved the status of orphans, and other vulnerable children, reduced HIV infection rates, and restored household food security as well as the overall economic status of women and children. But the number of orphans and vulnerable children is ever increasing beyond the capacity of the organization to handle, so assistance is critical.”

KAIPPG reported that 86 children ranging from nursery school to 8th grade were enrolled in schools and supplied with clothes, school equipment and bedding during 2003 through the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Empowerment Project. Five huts were built for guardians, six teachers attended a team building workshop, and 157 vulnerable families were visited and evaluated as to their social, medical and psychological needs. The organization also supports employment for Kenyans working with the project to provide a financial base for workers and hopefully create a stable economy for the population.

“World AIDS Day, Wednesday, December 1 is a day to celebrate the progress that has been made to battle this epidemic and also a time to realize that we are still fighting to find a cure, as well as help those left devastated by the epidemic in places such as Kenya,” said Robert Kihanya, CEO and founder of Zawadi African Tea. “This year’s World AIDS Day theme is Women & AIDS, which is in alignment with our commitment to continue to shed light on the toll of AIDS on the African adult population, and in particular women, that has left millions of African children orphaned and vulnerable to infection, physical and sexual exploitation and neglect.”

Started in 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about raising awareness, education and fighting prejudice. World AIDS Day is also important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. A Red Ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness that is worn by people all year round and particularly around World AIDS Day to demonstrate care and concern about HIV/AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment.

Otiri primary school pupils in Busia district with their