Category: Five
Live
Date: 01.12.2004
Printable version
Soo Matthews, the Head of Primrose School, Harehills, in Leeds, has
travelled with Radio Five Live to see for herself the affect of Aids
on a South African township community.
She will meet local dignitaries and teachers at a school in Umlazi
township and take part in Five Live's special edition of Drive
for World Aids Day today (1 December) with Jane Garvey from 4.00pm.
The Mayor of Leeds, with the help of Five Live, will officially launch
an appeal for urgently needed medical supplies for the people of Umlazi.
The Mayor is joined by his contemporary in Leeds' twin city, Durban,
to raise money to buy special kits which are used by volunteers to visit
people who are bedridden.
The kits cost Β£10 each and include items such as bandages.
As part of the same project Soo Matthews is meeting with local teachers
to set up an exchange scheme - she hopes that pupils from Leeds will
one day be able to spend time in the township.
Five Live has spent the past six months monitoring how HIV/Aids affects
the people of Umlazi.
The township near Durban is home to around 500,000 people and as many
as 50 per cent of the population is thought to be infected with the
virus.
