“I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.” – Jn 10:10

“Now I know the joy of living. I bless you with all my heart, that God may help you too. If you can help others who are in the same situation as us, our sisters, that would be really good. We have a new house, and we are happy, but when we see other women with AIDS who suffer because they don’t have a decent place to live, we suffer with them, in moral support.” – Mamounata from Burkina Faso

In 2012, the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN), thanks to the generous support of the mission office of the Austrian Jesuits, helped to build a small two-roomed house for Mamounata, who had been left homeless three years earlier, when floods swept through Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

Having a modest but decent place to call her own has made all the difference for Maimouna and her little daughter: in her own words, now she knows the joy of living. This is precisely what AJAN strives for: so that people who are infected and affected by AIDS may live Life to the full.

Some of the people reached by Jesuit AIDS projects are very poor and cannot survive without support to meet their basic needs. But we don’t stop here: our aim is to enable people to stand on their own feet, to be able to look after themselves and their families.

Maimouna, for example, makes soap in one of the projects of the Association Solidarité, Vie et Santé (ASVS – Association of Solidarity, Life and Health), which was co-founded by the late Fr Jean-Luc Masson SJ and works very closely with AJAN.

We will introduce you to Maimouna and other women with HIV who are striving towards Life to the full in Kenya and Burkina Faso. We’ll let you know how you can join our efforts to help them and their families, perhaps by buying the cement or window or another part of their new home, or the raw materials for their handicrafts that earn them an income. Please visit this webpage weekly throughout Lent to check for updates of our appeal.

To donate online, please click here

To donate via cheque, please send it to African Jesuit AIDS Network, P.O. Box 571, Sarit 00606 Nairobi, Kenya

To donate via bank transfer in euros, please use the following details

To donate via bank transfer in US dollars, please use the following details

In some countries, it is possible to make a tax-free donation by donating through our Jesuit partners. To find out more, please fill in and send us this form and we will be in touch with you with more details.

Thank you!

To read this appeal in French, please go here.