AIDS Hope
By Brenna McMonigal
AIDS Hope
Almost 70% of all the people in the world that are living with AIDS are in Africa. Those people need help! If you think you’re too young to help, think again.
Kendall Ciesemier was a 11-year-old girl when she was watching a special edition of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where Oprah goes to Africa to give holiday joy to hundreds of schoolchildren and orphans with the AIDS virus. Kendall got a great idea…
Starting Off
After the show was over, she went to a website called World Visions that could let you ‘adopt’ an AIDS orphan. Kendall was as excited as a puppy when she learned she could do it! She ran upstairs to get her money, all 1,000 dollars of it (just kidding, only $360), and announced, “I want to adopt an AIDS orphan.”
That is how Kendall adopted her very own AIDS orphan, Benite, a 8-year old girl. Benite doesn't go to America, she stays in Africa. Kendall can just send her gifts, money, and that sort of thing. That was just if you were confused.
The following summer, bam! Kendall had to go to the hospital. She had to get 2 liver transplants because of a rare liver disease called biliary atresia. Instead of get-well gifts, Kendall asked for money she could donate to the AIDS kids in Africa.
When she got well and better, She starts a fundraiser to start an organization called Kids Caring 4 Kids (KC4K). It helps-you guessed it- AIDS children! Kendall encourages kids to make fundraisers of their own. And they sure did! I assume they still do.
Number of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Speaking of AIDS, I have some interesting (and sad) statistics for you. You’ll be surprised on how many people have HIV/AIDS! All around the world, there is a estimated total of about 36.9 million people living with AIDS. The part of the world with the most AIDS is the sub-saharan Africa, with 14,000,000. I would assume that is one of the poorest parts of the world, as it costs a lot of money to get treated for AIDS. Hey, it even costs money to find out if you have AIDS!
Anyway, the lowest amount of people living with AIDS in the world is 13,000 in Australia and New Zealand (together). Next is Central and Eastern Europe and Asia (together) with 50,000, then East Asia and Pacific (together), and then Western Europe, Caribbean, and North America (not together), and finally Latin America with 1,300,000.
What Now?
Kendall now wants to be in broadcast journalism. As you may have guessed, raising money for orphans and schoolkids doesn’t get you a lot of money. So, right now, Kendall does a radio show with her brother, Conner. Of course, she still raises money for KC4K. That means you could still donate! Just type in ‘Kids Caring 4 Kids’ on the web, and it’ll take you right there! The website will tell you everything you need to know. For more websites on Kendall Ciesemier, look at my bibliography page.
If you ask me, I think Kendall is a selfless do-gooder who puts others before herself. She shows that anyone of any age can help any way they want. Maybe you could start an organization!
Bibliography
Capretto, Lisa. “How Kendall Ciesemier’s Selfless Crusade Has Made an $950,000 Impact in
Africa.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 June 2014. Web. 02 Dec.
2015.
Ciesemier, Kendall. “My Name My Story- The Stories- Kendall Ciesemier.” My Name My Story. N.P., N.D. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
Shein, Lori. AIDS. San Diego: Lucent, 1998. Print.
“AIDS Charity Begun by Georgetown Freshman in 6th Grade.” AIDS Charity Begun by Georgetown Freshman in 6th Grade. 26 sept. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Bold Words
Statistics: "The practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample."
Broadcast Journalism: "Type of news reporting presented to the public electronically or by radio instead of being published in newspapers."
Selfless: "Concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own."
Definitions by Google.com