In the summer of 2000, during a voluntary internship as a microbiologist at the hospital of the small village of Shirati in Tanzania, Catherine Boileau immediately perceived the urgent need to help the young orphan victims of Aids. In fact, the HIV virus is a major problem in this country: 1.3 million people are said to be infected. Based on this alarming figure, it is predicted that soon 11 out of 100 children will be orphaned, yet the disastrous consequences of the aids virus are already being felt in this African country. Inspired therefore by these observations, and with the collaboration of a group of women from the Rao hospital, this doctoral student in Public Health at the Université de Montréal decided to set up a sponsorship program in order that these children have access to schools, health services and a quality diet. A year after the launch of the SAFINA project, Catherine can be proud of having sponsored some twenty children as well as housing ten orphans in the foster home. Yet even more admirable, SAFINA has enabled the Shirati community to understand the importance of social solidarity and of taking one's destiny in hand.
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