Note: This program is a rebroadcast from April 27. 2015.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the most serious HIV and AIDS epidemic in the world. In 2012, roughly 25 million people were living with HIV, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the global total.
The battle is ongoing, as researchers, educators, and doctors continue to work to stop AIDS once and for all.
Sequoia Helping Hands, a local nonprofit, is doing its part by attacking the disease at the grassroots level with AIDS awareness campaigns. It also provides healthcare, shelter and food so that children can grow into healthy adults. They assist children by providing education so that they can become self-sufficient after childhood.
The organization was founded by Juni Asiyo a Triangle software engineer who’s originally from a village in Kenya.
Growing up in Kenya, Asiyo saw children get sick and die because of lack of proper medical assistance. She was haunted by those images when she went away to college in the United States.
After college, she returned home to help improve the situation. At the time Kenya, like other African nations, was in the midst of the AIDS epidemic. It affected every aspect of life. Asiyo and a few American friends started a small nonprofit that built homes and promoted health education in the region.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Asiyo about her efforts to help people in Kenya and her life experiences