Project no. 1 MAPUTO (Disease)

This story is from Ruth Ansah Ayisi, who works for UNICEF in Mozambique.

Kindlimuka is an AIDs awareness and help centre, based in a rundown house set in a bustling part of Maputo, in Mozambique.

An estimated 16.4 per cent of Mozambique's population of over 20 million people are HIV positive with some 600 new infections every day. Of the new infections, 45 per cent are youth under the age of 24 years. Most people are unaware of their HIV status.

Fifteen-year-old Caterina is one of its clients. She first heard about HIV/AIDS from her mother three years ago. Laura explained later that she had told her daughter, one of five children, that her father had died of AIDS and that she, the mother, was HIV positive. "She cried a lot, and does not like to talk about it," said the mother.

Yet, Caterina will talk a lot about AIDS generally. When asked about boyfriends, she is quick to answer that she has never had one and does not want one either. "Some of the girls in my school have boyfriends; some even have babies. It is very dangerous because of AIDS," she said.

Caterina is keen to get an education. Everyday, she is up and dressed at 5.30 to fetch water from the piped tap about one kilometre away from her home. She has to make five trips with a 20-litre water carrier on her head. She helps her younger sisters and brothers wash and dress, and then gets ready for school, which is an hour's walk away. She has to be there at 7.15am. When Caterina returns home, she cooks and cleans and then studies before it gets dark, because there is no electricity in her home.

But the family's standard of living has improved a little since her father died, thanks to Kindlimuka, who gave them money to build a small brick house to replace their old reed hut they lived in.

Caterina's mother, Laura, works for Kindlimuka, sensitizing children in schools about the virus. Although the work is voluntary, when money is available she receives a token amount of 500,000 meticais (about 30 US dollars) a month.

Laura became infected because of ignorance. "I knew my husband had another girl friend. I even knew her. But he was the man in the house, so I could say nothing. He then got sick. They told him at the hospital that he had AIDS, but he didn't tell me and continued to sleep with me without protection. I only found out after he died. I asked the nurses. It was very painful."

"Kindlimuka", which means "wake up" in Shangaan, one of the local languages, began operations in 1998 but introduced its programmes in schools last year. The director, Adriano Matsinhe, said one of his main challenges is to get the message through to people. "As I look healthy, the young people think I'm paid to say I'm HIV positive."

Matsinhe is one of the few people who has openly declared his HIV positive status on television as part of the sensitization campaign. Matsinhe and his colleagues also offer free and voluntary counselling. Indeed the atmosphere welcomes those who feel despair.

Kindlimuka's impact is difficult to measure, but it has grown from six to 188 members, and is expanding.

Although, the stigma of HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest challenges, said UNICEF HIV/AIDS project officer, Atieno Odenyo, awareness is increasing and people with HIV/AIDS are gradually coming together into associations. "However, they often lack organisational and advocacy skills and access to funds."

Kindlimuka has been a breakthrough. "It's a real community service," said Odenyo. "Lots of family and kids are always visiting. It's very open to people."

Project no. 2 NATIONAL (Conflict)

Mozambique is a nation ravaged by civil war and stark poverty, and it is rebuilding itself. In fact, Mozambique's brick-by-brick success has been touted as a model for putting Afghanistan back together again.

Former combatants now stick to name-calling in parliament and men who once shot at each other labor shoulder-to-shoulder to rid their land of land mines. The economy is booming and President Joaquim Chissano has said it could grow by 14 percent next year. But, above all, what has kept the country peaceful is the desire never to
witness another killing season.

Mozambique ended 16 years of civil war in 1992 with a peace deal and 6.5 billion dollars in assistance from the international community.

The south African nation set out to feed its hungry, clean up land mines, demobilize soldiers, resettle refugees, and rebuild bombed out roads, bridges and railways - priorities lauded by development officials.

A key aspect Afghans can imitate is the former Portuguese colony's will to keep the peace. Alfonso Dlakama, the former general of the RENAMO rebel group and now the head of the opposition party of the same name, talks of a list of grievances against the government. Corruption in the public sector - a widely acknowledged problem - tops of his list. But despite his complaints about the governing party, Dlakama says the former rebels remain committed to the
peace process.

Development experts said it is natural to have an economic surge when a conflict ends. The trick, they say, is to sustain it. Long-term success is still an open question in the formerly Marxist Mozambique because of its crushing poverty. Up to 70 percent of Mozambique's approximately 18 million people live on about 45 U.S. cents a day.

Donors and international organizations say the only way Mozambique will succeed is if its citizens feel the benefits of peace. Toward that end, the donor community has worked to strengthen institutions such as the parliament, the courts and the police.