It began a simple sightseeing vacation, but when Boston businesswoman Geri Rhoades saw the toll AIDS had taken on countries like South Africa and Zimbabwe on a trip there last April, she said she found a new purpose.
Touched by the juxtaposition of Africa’s boundless natural beauty with the ravages of AIDS, Rhoades said she returned home committed to finding a means of helping people struggling with AIDS.
The following month, Rhoades attended a conference held by World Vision, an international Christian humanitarian aid organization founded in 1950. Participants built 250 ‘Caregiver Kits’ to support the charity’s Caregiver program, Rhoades said she knew this was a project she wanted to bring to Boston.
‘I asked them if they had a city ever take this on, and they said ‘no,” Rhoades recalled. ‘I said, ‘Well, Boston is going to be the first city.”
Rhoades and partner Pia Proal founded Boston AIDS Africa and on Saturday, after five months and more than $100,000 raised through local fundraising, the organization held its first caregiver kit-building event at the Back Bay Events Center.
Approximately 400 volunteers assembled more than 3,000 Caregiver Kits containing medical necessities and words of encouragement for patients in the terminal stages of the illness on Saturday.
The kits the Boston AIDS Africa volunteers compiled included necessities like washcloths, antiseptics, petroleum jelly and latex gloves, along with a personal message with words of encouragement.
‘This is the maiden voyage of Boston AIDS Africa, and we’re hoping that it becomes the template for other cities,’ Rhoades said.
World Vision spokeswoman Laura Blank said World Vision created the Caregiver Kit program after hearing of the unsanitary conditions and practices some caregivers were forced to work with.
‘They would take the cotton balls, wash them and then lay them out on the rocks to dry in the sun and reuse them,’ Blank said. ‘When you’re talking about an infectious disease that can be transmitted, it’s dangerous, not healthy and really not improving the quality of life for the patients.’
Most kit-building drives are on a smaller scale and held by individual churches or youth groups, Blank said. Saturday’s event was the first of its kind.
Princess Kasune Zulu, a native of Zambia, spoke at the event, describing how she lost her parents to AIDS when she was 17. In 1997, four years after she lost her parents, she tested positive for HIV and has since worked as an advocate for World Vision.
Zulu spoke of the important role the kits serve for those volunteers caring for patients in the terminal stages of the illness. She said while caring for her mother at the end of her life, her mother needed anti-fungal foot cream. Zulu and her brother had to travel on foot for five hours to get the cream. By the time they arrived back, Zulu said, her mother had died.
‘Here in the U.S., these may be very basic things,’ she said.
Volunteers included members of several churches and students from local colleges. Rhoades said support was so strong that some volunteers were actually turned away for lack of space and materials.
Andy Needham, Youth Ministries director at Chapel of the Cross in Westborough, brought a group of 26 high school students and parents to participate.
‘One of the things that we’ve realized is that this generation has a real heart for social justice,’ he said. ‘I find it easier to get them enthused about something like this then just doing fun and pizza. They can do that anywhere.’
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth senior Roselle Arpino said she works at the UMass community service office and recruited a group of 16 students to come to the event.
‘ ‘It’s just really cool to see all these people coming together making these kits,’ she said.’ ‘Everyone’s so into it’ . . . just packing these kits.’