Church Microfinance Project helps HIV/AIDS patients start businesses

South Africa--Out of 45 million people, 5.3 million people are currently infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Everyday there are between 600-750 people in South Africa who die from AIDS related illnesses. This number includes men, women and children.

In Zimbabwe, HIV/AIDS has made a big impact, especially on the youth of Zimbabwe. Aid agencies have predicted that by 2005 the country will have lost 19 per cent of its workforce.

A church microfinance project has helped 170 Zimbabweans infected with HIV/AIDS to earn a living amid their nation's economic crisis.

The Zimbabwe Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ZECLOF) started giving out small loans to HIV/AIDS affected people in 2002 after it decided it needed to focus on those still economically active.

It has enabled beneficiaries to set up small businesses. There are many orphans whose parents died of AIDS, some of them sell clothes and edible caterpillars to support themselves. And some also sell bananas and knitting. The loans given out have all been repaid within the agreed six-month repayment period.

Microfinance is not a cure all for all the problems of the world, said a ZECLOF spokesperson, but it is a tool which can help those with very little, or with nothing with which to improve their living conditions.