Rotarians For Fighting Aids (RFFA)
Africa Network for Children Orphaned and at Risk (ANCHOR)
by
PDG Reg Loo
D9250 Representative

I know that Rotarians are busy people and don’t have much time reading long stories and reports;  so allow me to summarise the existence and objectives of the above combined organization. 

July 2002, R.I. President Bhichai Rattakul asked Marion Bunch, RFFA chair (then Rotarian Fellowship Fighting Aids) “what Rotary could do to help the AIDS victims, especially the children in Africa. Because the HIV/AIDS pandemic is so complex, Marion knew that Rotarians could not battle this disease alone. We needed partners, each of whom would bring a different expertise to the project.  ANCHOR was thus formed.

October 2003, R.I. upgraded RFFA (now known as Rotarians For Fighting Aids) to a Rotary Action Group – not a Fellowship anymore!. RFFA needed another partner that was an AIDS expert.  HOPE Worldwide was chosen because this organization had a good track record and they were fighting AIDS in Africa for the last 16 years.

December 2004, RFFA/ANCHOR/HOPE received US$8.1 million to help the orphans and vulnerable children in six countries of Africa. The monies flow through HOPE Worldwide since they are the partner that is doing the AIDS work on the ground.

ANCHOR’s goal is to improve the well-being and protection of 146,000 orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in six African countries by building the capacity of families and communities to cope and to respond.

The objectives of RFFA/ANCHOR are:

1. Promote awareness and membership to RFFA
2. Mobilize Rotarians to be involved to help orphans through the ACHOR project.
3. Form a committee of RFFA members, key influencers, Rotaract/Interact members.
4. Partner with local HOPE worldwide programs and develop an ANCHOR coordinating Committee.

RFFA International Home page.