About

About Generation Hope



Generation hope - An Introduction


Generation Hope is an initiative by the NYU School of Medicine in collaboration with the Face-to-Face AIDS Project and the Pendulum Project that aims to support a new corn mill and garden project to add food security and sustainable income generation at an existing community initiative in Malawi, the Paradiso Home Based Care Centre.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. An estimated 850,000 people are living with HIV and one million children are orphans. Less than 8% of these vulnerable children throughout Malawi and sub-Saharan Africa receive support from community organizations due to a lack of directed resources.

Since 2001, The Pendulum Project has been working to empower grassroots groups that support children infected and affected by AIDS in Malawi by linking them with individuals and communities committed to providing essential resources, advocacy and hope. The Face-to-Face AIDS Project, a nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to document and raise awareness of the HIV pandemic in South Africa, Malawi, and Cambodia, has been working with the Pendulum Project in raising knowledge and support for these community led and managed grass roots responses in Malawi through the creation of a traveling exhibition featuring the Aids PhotoMosaic, education exhibits, and documentary film.

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The Pendulum Project


The Pendulum Project empowers grassroots organizations that support children in AIDS affected regions of sub-Saharan Africa by linking them with individuals and communities committed to providing essential resources, advocacy and hope.

The Pendulum Project believes in creating a culture where all are given a voice to pursue dignity, justice and equality in the fight against AIDS and poverty.

The Pendulum Project is a non-profit humanitarian organization that helps families and communities care for, support, and protect orphans and vulnerable children in parts of the world that are severely impacted by AIDS. Our first geographic area of focus is in sub-Sahara Africa, where the AIDS epidemic is raging, and where the number of orphans and children at risk is growing exponentially.

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Face-to-Face AIDS Project


Through photography, film, educational exhibits, and presentations, the Face-to-Face AIDS Project aims to raise awareness of the HIV crisis in Africa and to generate funding for local grassroots programs. The centerpiece of Face-to-Face is its traveling exhibition featuring the AIDS photomosaics and the Face-to-Face exhibits.

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Garden and Mill Project


Paradiso is a community based organization supporting over 250 orphans and over 200 adults affected by HIV in Ngwenya Village (pop. 16,000) affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For the orphans and vulnerable children during the week, they provide financial help for them to go to school, and on Saturdays they come to Paradiso to be children again, and they are provided with food on that day. In addition, Paradiso's 20 full time volunteers visit all of their patients in the community about once a week. They support their adult clients through support group therapy sessions, supervisory drug taking assistance, and home based care. Home based care consists of sitting with bed-ridden patients, transporting them (via an ambulance bicycles and cars when available) to clinics, counseling them, and offering emotional and spiritual support.

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Paradiso's Feeding Program for Orphans and Vulnerable Children


Paradiso is led by the village chief Mara Banda. She is assisted by 20 full time volunteers who are fed and supported by the surrounding community. Currently, the only income generating activity that funds Paradiso's operations is rock crushing whereby workers manually crush rocks from nearby hills into smaller stones which are purchased for making cement. This activity is dangerous, precarious, and inconsistent in its ability to support the organization. One of Paradiso's main goals for the coming year is to establish food security for the orphans and adult patients. This venture will become an income generating activity that people living with HIV/AIDS can take part in. For this Paradiso requires a garden and corn mill which will be maintained and run by Paradiso's volunteers patients. The surrounding community will be able to use the services of the mill to grind their own maize into flour for a fee. As people pay to use the mill to grind their food, the money made can be used for the following year's garden harvest.

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Leading Paradiso: Mara Banda


Paradiso is led by the village chief Mara Banda. She is assisted by 20 full time volunteers who are fed and supported by the surrounding community. Currently, the only income generating activity that funds Paradiso's operations is rock crushing whereby workers manually crush rocks from nearby hills into smaller stones which are purchased for making cement. This activity is dangerous, precarious, and inconsistent in its ability to support the organization. One of Paradiso's main goals for the coming year is to establish food security for the orphans and adult patients. This venture will become an income generating activity that people living with HIV/AIDS can take part in. For this Paradiso requires a garden and corn mill which will be maintained and run by Paradiso's volunteers patients. The surrounding community will be able to use the services of the mill to grind their own maize into flour for a fee. As people pay to use the mill to grind their food, the money made can be used for the following year's garden harvest.

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