| 2002: | Marion Bunch was asked by Past RI President Bhichai Rattakul to put together a plan to help the African children. |
| 2003: | RFFA was formed and approved by the RI Board. |
| 2004: | RFFA entered a partnership agreement with other organizations, called African Network for Children Orphaned and at Risk (ANCHOR). |
| 2004: | ANCHOR applied for AIDS funding from the U.S government. |
| 2005, early: | ANCHOR received $8.1 million from USAID for project partnership plan. |
| 2005, June: | At RI Centennial Convention in Chicago, RFFA announced Orphan Rescue to help the African children. |
The Rotarians for Fighting AIDS (formerly Rotarian Fellowship For Fighting AIDS) was initiated by Marion Bunch, now the current Chair of RFFA and formerly RI’s Health Concerns Advisor on AIDS. Marion has developed a coalition of powerful organizations to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. Because both Rotary International Past Presidents Bhichai Rattakul and Jonathan Majiyagbe expressed strong interest in helping the orphans and vulnerable children of Africa, Marion put together a Rotary AIDS project plan (which became the ANCHOR program – see RFFA News) at the request of RI Past President Bhichai in early 2003. Marion presented the plan at RI Past President Bhichai’s Presidential Conference on Peace & Development in Nairobi, Kenya and again, later, for RI Past President Jonathan’s Presidential Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2003.
PARTNERSHIPS
The plan to help the orphans was based on “partnerships”, with each partner bringing a different expertise to the project. But before we could partner with anyone, we needed a Rotary “entity” that could actually partner with other organizations – one that incorporated like-minded Rotarians from multiple countries and continents that wanted to combat AIDS. This resulted in the creation of the Rotarians For Fighting AIDS, Inc., approved by the Rotary International Board in October 2003.
The primary partner in battling AIDS had to be an AIDS expert organization, one with a Best Practice model that was sustainable, and one that could scale up and replicate their model in multiple African countries. HOPE worldwide/Africa run by Dr. Mark Ottenweller was the answer. Together Mark and Marion formed a coalition with HOPE worldwide as the primary AIDS expert partner; RFFA as the Rotary group that could mobilize the communities into action and volunteer their services to help train the caregivers in life skills and income generation skills; and Emory University’s School of Nursing & Task Force who became the “monitoring and evaluation” expert in the group. Thus, the African Network For Children Orphaned and At Risk (ANCHOR) was formed. ANCHOR applied to the U.S. Government (USAID) for funds to help 146,000 orphans and vulnerable children in six African countries and to train 48,000 caregivers in these countries. They received $8.1 million US in the Spring of 2005. Coca Cola/Africa provided the ANCHOR partnership group with $50,000 seed funding to help with the planning and implementation process. A RFFA/ANCHOR organizational structure has been created in the six African countries to implement the plan, making African Rotarians responsible for assisting HOPE worldwide staff in mobilizing the communities into action to help the orphans and vulnerable.
In response to requests from RFFA members in America and other developed nations who also want to help the orphans in Africa, RFFA announced the creation of Orphan Rescue. Rotarians or non-Rotarians can donate the sum of $450/anually to provide one child for one year’s nutritional support and all education costs. Donations go through RFFA and are wired monthly to a special RFFA/HOPE worldwide account in Johannesburg, South Africa. HOPE’s staff will distribute the donations through their community workers who can easily identify the children in need.