Today is Red Nose Day, the biennial telethon to raise money for Comic Relief.

Survivors Fund (SURF) has a long association with Comic Relief. In fact, SURF’s Founder, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, raised funding for AVEGA from Comic Relief in 1995, two years before SURF was even established.

Today, Comic Relief continues to support our work, currently through a grant for a two-year programme to support HIV+ women survivors and their dependants. The funding has been critical, enabling AVEGA Agahozo and Solace Ministries to provide wraparound treatment (medical provision, counselling, nutrition, income-generating activities) to their members. This had been at risk following the end of DFID funding for our original Care and Treatment Project.

I urge you to donate to Comic Relief which enables our work, and many other UK-based charities, working to support local partner organisations in Africa. As a reminder of our association, we have posted on our youtube channel two campaign films on the work of AVEGA broadcast on Red Nose Day in 1999,  featuring SURF Patron Paul Bradley.

As the public responded so generously then, I hope we do so again today.

Please – Do something funny for money!