About the 2007 Marathon, Orphan Dinner, Children’s Walk. Free AIDS testing
1,200+ people participated in various events
World AIDS Marathon / Half-Marathon - 217 participants
Orphan Dinner for 350 orphans
500 children participated in Children’s Walk
140 people tested for the AIDS virus
The World AIDS Marathon
held on December 1, 2007 sponsored by the Richard M. Brodsky
Foundation and co-sponsored by the Kisumu World AIDS Marathon Group, did not
rely on huge sponsors so we were freer to plan our event without corporate
sponsor demands. Our event had 217 participants whereas the marathon one day
later had a major corporate sponsor, but only had 67
participants. Our event was brilliantly managed by Dr. Timothy Thomas,
Alie Eleveld, Joseph Thuku, Betty Okero and racing officials Joseph
Ochieng and Philip Maiyo. Volunteers in America included Art Somers,
Pamela Somers, and Artie Wallace. Many other volunteers participated and to all
of them, 'thank you very much.' The marathon winners for male and female were
Dismos Rotira, 02:30:03 and Helen Chenoneg, 02:59:50. The half marathon winners
for male and female were Bernard M. Tinga, 01:11:27 and Rose Jebet, 01:23:48.
SUCCESS STORIES & HEROES
On the eve of the World AIDS
Marathon, 350 orphans were fed at Outreach Village Center, a shelter for
orphans established by Hezekiah Nyaranga, hero #1. Hezekiah cares for
these children during the day, and at night the children return home. By
Hezekiah caring for the children, the state cannot take away their land. But
Hezekiah needs our help. Hezekiah has a pharmacy and while the children receive
free medicine, some of the medicine, Hezekiah is required to pay for. There is
even a small clinic on the premises and medical care is available for
free to the children. The Richard M. Brodsky Foundation recently
contributed $300 of the $750 which Hezekiah needed to keep the pharmacy up and
running. To contact Hezekiah directly you can write him at reachout5@yahoo.com.
Hezekiah’s Pharmacy
I personally am not a rich man,
nor does the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation have a lot of money, but when it
spent $1,000 for the orphan dinner... trust me, there is no greater feeling
than knowing you are making a difference and the results are right before your
eyes. Seeing how the money is spent firsthand and knowing that we, anyone out
there can raise a $1,000 through their school, place of worship, work place,
etc., to feed orphans is a very comforting feeling. We can all do our
small part to help others less fortunate than us. Nothing is more
gratifying than to hear and see the joy of the orphans as they
sing and dance and enjoy a meal.
Orphan Dinner and Dancing
500 CHILDREN participated
in the 5K children's walk and they were served juice, biscuits, bread and
margarine after the walk. Jodi and I personally went to shopkeepers in
Kisumu to request food donations and a few of the bakeries and markets came
through with donations as they were eager to be included in the World AIDS Day
events and feeding the 500 children. Special thanks to Mon Ami, Kenshop and
Nakumatt for their food donations. Other food donations came from
Jalaram Academy, Braeburn, Kisumu International School, Bulb Motors, Population
Services International, and Pabari; thank you all for your food donations. We
hope to get many more local vendors contributing next year. The organizer for
the children's walk was Joseph Thuku of CDC, hero #2, no stranger to HIV /
AIDS awareness. It was Joseph Thuku who tested Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle,
for HIV last year.
500 children participated in Children’s Walk
On World AIDS Day, 2007, over a
thousand people came out to show their support to those who were running and /
or to support a friend who was walking in the Children's Walk. Naturally,
there would be bands and dancers to support people who are
living with HIV as well as to show their respects to those
who had died from AIDS.
To really celebrate the spirit of the day, two wheelchair participants, Dr. William H. Tan (pictured above), of Australia and Anthony Rioko of Kenya, heroes #3 and 4, participated
and completed the marathon in 03:50:59 and 03:09:43 hours. In addition to completing the World AIDS Marathon, Dr. William H. Tan, http://www.willpower.com.sg, will be completing a marathon on every continent including Antarctica. You will never meet a finer, more courageous, decent human being than Dr. Tan. And true to his word, Dr. Tan made
good on his commitment.
On December 2, 2007. Jodi and
I, a bit weary after our run the day before, travelled to Kakamega and then Bushili Village, a little over an hour's drive heading west to visit Susan Thompson, hero
#5, http://www.fish4Kenya.com and
to see her projects. Susan is a Canadian marine biologist who teaches Kenyan
women how to raise fish for their families in local fish ponds by adding and
adjusting chemicals. It has become such a huge success that the
men have decided to turn the project into a business. Susan also brought 6
sewing machines and cloth from Canada and she has taught the AIDS orphans and
their caretakers how to make school uniforms. When Susan, Jodi and I
got out of our car at Bushili Village. Emily Kwoba Lumbugu and her group
greeted us like we were long-lost relatives from another land. They
danced and celebrated our arrival but this was all due to the love
and respect they have for Susan.
HEROES #6,7,8,9
The Richard M. Brodsky
Foundation has three Kenyan board members who are all my heroes, http://www.richardmbrodsky.org/board.html,
Philip Maiyo, Secretary of the Chepkero Athletics Club, had been largely
responsible for arranging for 86 Kenyan runners to receive athletic
scholarships at American universities. Dr. Timothy Thomas is head of HIV
research at CDC KEMRI and has had a major effect in reducing the number of new
HIV-positive babies born. Tim's goal is for all Kenyan's to know their
HIV-status, especially pregnant women. The likelihood that an infant will
be brought into the world HIV-positive will be substantially reduced if both HIV-positive
Mother and infant take a single dose of the medicine, Neviripine, during
childbirth. Alie Eleveld has saved thousands of lives by bringing the
technology of clean drinking water to Kenya, as well as helping numerous groups
to assure that their projects have safe drinking water. And last and most
important of all is my wife, Jodi, who chose to remain married to me and to
keep our family loving and whole. It is Jodi's and my greatest wish to reduce
the stigma of AIDS, and to show that people who are HIV-positive can lead a
productive life, but they need the love and support of their family as well as
access to the AIDS medicine, follow-up medical care, nutritious food, clean
drinking water, moderate exercise, no smoking, no drinking, and the end of
poverty.
Jodi and Richard
Brodsky at the 5k AIDS Cancer Run Walk, http://www.5kaidscancer.comthat the Richard M. Brodsky
Foundation sponsored on June 22, 2008 in Seaford, New York.
At different times during the
year the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation sponsors shoe drives so we can send used
shoes to Africa. Many children and adults in Africa have never owned a pair of
shoes. A $1 contribution is requested for each pair of shoes, preferably
running shoes, sent to the foundation's address, see
below.
Back in America, December 2, 2007,
Leymiss Bolanos Wolmott of
FuzionDance, http://www.fuziondance.com, did
a benefit dance for the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation / World
AIDS Marathon. If you would like to do a dance benefit or concert to help
support the work of the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation, you can also have a
link placed on the marathon website for upcoming events, www.worldaidsmarathon.com, If anyone would be interested in
hearing me speak about how it is that I'm surviving two fatal illnesses and
completing 95% of the marathons I sign up for, please contact me at RichardM.Brodsky@gmail.com.
In an earlier newsletter I reported,
"According
to UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2007, a report of the 60 countries
with the highest numbers of rate of children dying before their fifth birthday
(U5MR, under 5 mortality rate), Kenya has 120 children dying per 1,000 children
before they reach their fifth birthday. Even worse is the fact that Kenya is
fifth from the top of the list for countries having the greatest increase,
24%, in the U5MR rate from the years 1990 - 2005. Only Iraq, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland have had a greater increase in the U5MR rate from 1990 -
2005."
In a recent December 2007
update, on Unicef's website, the U5MR estimate for Kenya in 2006 has remained the same. It should be pointed out that these numbers are only estimates.
Considering that only 7 countries had an increase in the U5MR from 2005 - 2006,
this is not a good sign for the children of Kenya. Odder still is the fact that
Kenya continues to have a reduction in the number of new HIV cases.
On the plus side, if we can
disregard statistics for a minute, I'd like to share a major trend which I
observed during my last visit to Kenya in December, 2007. In an earlier
newsletter I had reported how a group of AIDS widows who cared for AIDS orphans
had no interest in being tested for HIV, due to the stigma of having AIDS and
the inability to have easy access to the AIDS medicine and follow-up medical
care. There has been a major reversal and the AIDS widows now are seeking to be
tested for the AIDS virus. One group of 20+/- AIDS widows asked me if there was
a vehicle that could bring them to the city to be tested. I contacted Joseph
Thuku at CDC and I was told this was not possible since the nearest testing
center was not far from where the women resided. It's questionable if the women
will ever make the trip to town, but what if there was one medical van
that could reach villages and test the AIDS widows and others and that
same medical van had a nurse or doctor who could also bring medicine
and provide follow-up medical care for those previously diagnosed with the
AIDS virus.
My foundation kept its promise
by making World AIDS Weekend a memorable event to orphans, runners, people
whose lives have been affected by AIDS, and the people of Kisumu.
We hope that others will help contribute towards these expenses so money can be
donated to various AIDS projects, http://www.richardmbrodsky.org/support.html
and these events can happen more often.
The Richard M. Brodsky Foundation
1247 Mara Court
Atlantic Beach, NY 11509
Senator BarackObama
has wished me success for all four World AIDS Marathons since 2004. It would
be my greatest wish to inform Senator Obama that
people in America
are truly supportive of people whose lives have been affected by AIDS.
***
The Richard M. Brodsky Foundation, Inc. is a registered 501(c) (3) public charity.
(c)2005 Richard M. Brodsky Foundation
The World AIDS Marathon and its logo are trademarks. All Rights Reserved.
