Vivian to the left of the cheque, our marketing angel, took responsibility for much of the face painting of both mothers and children - thank you Vivian.
 
HIV is a virus that weakens the immune system, but many people who are infected look and feel healthy because HIV takes 3 - 5 years to damage the immune system. Once weakened, the body cannot defend itself properly and the person becomes very sick and develops AIDS.
  
A pregnant woman, who has the HIV virus can pass it on to her baby when she is pregnant, gives birth or breast-feeds. Before Dr. Mitchell Besser, an American doctor, started The Mothers Program more than 1 in 3 babies born to an HIV positive mother would get the HIV virus in South Africa. Babies who have the HIV virus often get sick and usually die when they are very small. Almost all children who are HIV positive die before they are 8 years old.
 
Through the sterling work of the Mothers Programme, South African woman realize there are ways to minimize the risk of passing HIV to their new born.

 
The Mothers Programme is unique and develops and supports mothers' social, emotional, and physical health, helps them achieve economic independence, and de-stigmatize HIV infection in families and communities. Preventing mother to child transmission is not a complex medical procedure, but reaching the mothers is the difficulty.

The Mothers Program takes women from pregnancy through the first year of their child's life and beyond. Peer education groups in each clinic are led by trained, Mentor Mothers, themselves mothers living with HIV who have been through the programs and have given birth to, and are alive to raise, virus free children.
 
Since inception in 2001, the Mothers Program has gown from a single program, single site organization to a 30 site multi-program, multi-site organization and growing. Mothers helping other mothers! A simple yet powerful concept. But for HIV positive women in South Africa, it represents hope.
 
In 2004 Living-water has supported the "Friends of Mothers Program" through our South African Call Centre partners, Dialogue group (www.dialogue.co.za). Dialogue is the fastest growing call centre in South Africa and now have over 650 call centre agents. Our agents are seated between well-known UK companies including Carphone Warehouse, Admiral Insurance and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.
 
In December we were proud to sponsor and be part of the Paarl Clinic Friends to Mothers Christmas Party. At the party many presents were donated to all the children so that they would have a Christmas party to remember.

Each October Living-Water will be organizing a UK collection from all our customers for unused children's toys to ship to "Friends to Mothers" and ensure all the small children in other parts of South Africa infected with HIV get a Christmas present and party. We will contact all clients in October and collect gifts while making our water deliveries.

Guy Florin (Living-Water MD Sales and Marketing) reported, "The mothers and children we met and played with at the Paarl Christmas party were a testimony to the great work being carried out by Friends to Mothers. We danced, played cricket and football, and did a lot of face painting - the response and bravery of both mothers and children really touched my heart - Thank you Friends to Mothers and thank you Dialogue for getting us involved with such a great charity".
  
Ernie Cloete (Living-Water Head of Sales) - "What a great charity. I am proud to have been a part of a truly wonderful day when mothers, children and our own staff danced to the same music. Next year I really want to make sure we collect enough gifts from all our customers to give the children infected with HIV right across South Africa a Christmas to remember, not just those around Cape Town".
If you want to know more about Friends to Mothers you can see their website www.mothersprogrammes.org
 
For as little as $30 (£17) you can sponsor one mother child to complete the programme and prevent another Aids orphan. Donations, company or individual can be made through the Mothers Program website.
 
We hope all our customer’s will join us in October and support Friends to Mothers by collecting unwanted toys for our delivery drivers to "pick-up" so we can ensure this Christmas will be even better.