Roberto Bazzoni Onlus : After a six year battle, PWC take the trophy home!

After a six year battle, PWC take the trophy home!

In excess of €38,000 raised to save lives in Zimbabwe.

Ladies and gentlemen, First of all I have to thank you for being here tonight, bringing to six years in a row this get together of friends united in a shared good cause which, for most of you, has become a familiar one. You may have noticed from the Programme that this year some good friends have offered to be our Sponsors for this year’s events, and I thank them heartily. Together with Pioneer are Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp., ABN and Golden Source. Our activities since the last Tag Rugby Tournament have been mainly focussed on the fight against AIDS in Zimbabwe, which we started in 2002. Patients under care now number more than 1300, spread over four Centres in the country. The situation in Zimbabwe continues to be dramatic: the official inflation rate is over 1200% per annum. Poverty and famine are widespread with an unemployment rate of between 70 and 80%. According to a report presented to Parliament on 23rd May 2006, the health delivery system, is collapsing. Hospitals and training centers are seriously understaffed, the referral system has collapsed, buildings are dilapidated, equipment is obsolete or broken down, drugs are in short supply and erratic, including the life-prolonging Anti Retrovirals . This is just to give you an idea of the working conditions of our people on the ground there. We already knew these facts, but public acknowledgement of this is a positive thing. Of course, we could no longer limit our action, as we did at the start, to providing free ARV medicines. We had to step up support for these people, providing holistic care at a time when they most need it. For the first time the cost of medicines and medical treatment has become lower than the cost of the additional help needed to survive: food, fuel generators in essential locations to cope with the increasing duration of blackouts and basic things like soap! We are, of course, also bearing the cost of medical staff (when available) to help in the hospitals where our programme is running. Needs have increased and we have to say that, luckily, we have been able to cope with them thanks to you and to many others like you who, in various countries in Europe and in the US, have generously responded to our appeals. In this bleak picture, we were extremely happy to see that our idea/initiative of “going beyond” AIDS, which we have been able to put into practice at our Centre for the Promotion of Women in Harare, is working. In January 2006 the first “professional courses” started, led by professional teachers, aimed at giving these women practical skills which can make them economically self sufficient. Courses on various skills are being organized, greeted with enthusiam. We met with these women on May 20th last and from all of those we met, people who have been to hell and back, due to disease, the razing of their homes, and the loss of their livelihoods, the sentiment expressed was one of hope in a better and brighter future. We saw many harsh realities in Zimbabwe. However, we also saw the many positive results of our projects there. We saw healthy bodies, we saw children smiling and playing – and people turning around and giving back to their country. We saw the seeds of hope. For next year we plan, first of all, to carry on our action in spite of the increasing difficulties and, if possible, to enlarge the number of patients to 1500. It is not going to be easy, working in a crumbling country, but the people on the ground working on our projects are really devoted to help the sick and poor and the message we get from our supporters, like you, is extremely clear: KEEP GOING! So, in a sense, it becomes difficult to stop, doesn’t it? This event remains an important part in our fundraising effort. I would like to thank you all for the ongoing support of our initiative and for your friendship. Thank you! Sebastiano

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