Help Destitute Moms with AIDS Care for Their Kids

2011 First Quarter Update

Mark visited Cambodia in November 2010  where he met with our Home Care Coordinator and Team  to review the status of each family in the FSP.  All operational aspects of the FSP remain  as described in the program description . As a part of his visit, Mark also visited almost all of the families currently enrolled in the FSP.  This  quarterly visit by Mark is a standard practice and it is done in addition to the weekly visits that the Home Care Team  makes  to each family.  Each family’s status is reviewed and the educational progress of the children is discussed along with any other issues that may need additional attention.

In December, after the completion of  this trip, Mark learned of a   significant development that will seriously impact the  FSP families and program.  

Due to a  recent policy  change  by the  UN’s Global Fund ( for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria)  and the large medical NGOs which  administer Global Fund services in Cambodia , patients, including the poorest, will now be required to pay small fees for services which were previously free, such as  required blood tests and  doctor visits. This a serious development for patients for whom an additional unplanned expense of even  $ 5 to $ 10 per month  could prevent their continued participation  in the Global Fund’s  program to obtain  life saving  anti-retroviral medications.

For FSP families, living on the very edge of survival, without increased  financial support from our program,  these small fees will confront them  with  a choice of  seeking the  medical care essential to their continuing survival or  of  feeding their children. 

This alarming development could not have come at a worse time.  Food price inflation in the developing world already threatens the ability  of many  families to maintain a level   adequate nutrition necessary for  survival.

At a time when our  FSP budget is already strained by rising inflation and the difficult   fundraising environment,  we will need   to increase the monthly allocation to our FSP families to pay these medical fees or face the simple fact that  hungry poor families will choose food over medical care,  an action which will inevitably lead to a rise in mortality and orphaned children.  Consequently, you will note that our program support amounts have increased.

The  FSP  2010 budget year has been  completed, but the GlobalGiving site does not offer an easy way for us to distinguish from 2010 budget needs vs 2011 unless we repost our project.

The  2011 annual budget for the FSP is now projected at $ 106,000 ( $118 per patient family.)   At the present time we have raised $32,000 from various donors, leaving us with substantial funding needs.

When including  a portion  of the costs of fundraising  via the GlobalGiving site, this means we will now  assume a monthly cost of $ 125 per patient family.

We are most grateful for your continued support of the AIDS Patient Family Support Program.

Check out our most recent press report Dated Sept 2, 2010  online at:

http://inmenlo.com/2010/09/04/barbara-and-mark-rosasco-working-to-better-the-lives-of-southeast-asia-women-and-children/

Mark visited Cambodia in  late September where according to plan  he met with our Home Care Coordinator and Team  to review the quarterly  status of each family in the FSP.  As a part of his visit, Mark also visited almost all of the families currently enrolled in the FSP. During Mark's visits with each family, family status is reviewed and the educational progress of the children is discussed along with any other issues that may need additional attention. At present we now 95 children enrolled in school, up from our previous total of 85.

All operational aspects of the FSP continue as described in the program description without any significant exceptions.  The one exception is that our  program  funding continues to be available unpredictably  and only on a  month by month basis, causing considerable worries about our ability to  maintain non-stop continuation of this program.

Despite these grave funding concerns, we continue to focus on  the importance of education  in our efforts to encourage children to strive for academic excellence. As many of the parents in the FSP are illiterate,  this additional social support  which  stresses the importance of education is of great importance.

 Funding update October 2010

 We are grateful to GlobalGiving for its recent Matching Funds event on October 12. Three donors gave a total of $ 6,000   which should  earned a 50% funds match of $3,000 . The grand total after paying  fees of $900 to Global,  this campaign will net a total result of $8,100. 

 Donations to the FSP from all other sources, excluding GlobalGiving,  now total $66,385, leaving a balance of approximately $ 18,000 yet to fund in order to achieve essential minimal program funding for the FSP's 75 families.  Total of projected essential  program costs remain at $ 88,000 per year, or a cost of $ 1118 per family, but owing to increased local costs this will rise moderately in the near future .

Kasumisou Foundation FSP operates and funds itself month-to-month.  The continuing  economic climate continues to impact all charities with total donations recently reported to have  declined by approximately 11% for 2009. Kasumisou Foundation continues to seek funding to continue essential programs without interruption and to try to restore emergency reserve funds expended in 2008 and 2009 to make up for donor shortfalls.  Many donors are experiencing donor fatigue and it is increasingly difficult to secure funding commitments and donations.

Although we are blessed to receive continued support for our projects, at the present time, we are keenly aware that any significant shortfall in   funding would mean  that we would immediately be forced to stop our support of these 75 families and causing these mothers and their children become homeless within the month. Our top priority continues to be to raise funds to  support of  our existing program  commitments and to try to restore our reserve funds once immediate funding commitments are met.

Thank you all very much  for your generous  and continued support! We cannot do  this without  you !

Barbara Rosasco

Kasumisou Foundation

Links:

• InMenlo, September 2, 2010