DOMINICAN REPUBLIC- SANTO DOMINGO
"Casa Rosada"
Psychological and medical care for HIV orphaned/abandoned children and adolescents

Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Local Association in Charge of Project: AIC Los Tres Brazos, Dominican Republic,
Member of AIC (Association Internationale des Charités)
Rampe des Ardennais 23 - 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve – Belgium
E-mail: aic-solidarité@aic-international.org
Website: www.aic-international.org
Persons in charge of the project locally: Melania Gómez de Fermín, Sister Julia del Moral

Project Objectives:
· General: rehabilitate HIV children and adolescents for them to grow psychologically healthy in order to enable them to integrate successfully into society.
· Specific: ensure professional, psychological and medical care for HIV abandoned /orphaned children and adolescents of low income background, living in the Casa Rosada – a center run by Daughters of Charity and AIC volunteers in East Santo Domingo.

Activities:
· Contract a psychologist and a nurse.
· Develop with the nurse adequate timeliness and regularity of the administration of medicines, follow-up of medical prescriptions, improvement of hygienic methods, diet and general care for the children.
· Develop individual and group therapeutic programs for the children showing problems;
· Collaborate with the coordinating group of the center to develop positive discipline methods and adequate therapies for the management of the children;
· Personal assessment with staff in order to improve their capacity to manage inadequate conduct, and to improve human relations amongst personnel;
· Advise and guide relatives of the children/adolescents in order to facilitate the improvement of their attitude towards the children/adolescents.

Length of project: January-December 2006

Motivation for the project:
In the Dominican Republic, there is an increasing number of children being abandoned at hospitals, or left orphans of parents who have died of AIDS, or abandoned by relatives not able to pay for the medicines and/or not willing to live with the stigmatization given by rearing an orphan with HIV. The Casa Rosada, thanks to the Daughters of Charity, has the facilities to welcome the children, and to provide them with an environment where they are taken care of. The Dominican government supplies medicines for the children/adolescents, and finances some of the operating costs. However, considered the needs of the children, much needed professional psychological/medical care for the children is indispensable for the healthy mental growth of the children. At the moment, the Center counts with the help of temporary volunteers, but full time personnel are needed in order to ensure complete medical and psychological follow-up.

Beneficiaries: more than 50 HIV abandoned/orphaned children and adolescents of low-income background of ages 0-18.

Number of volunteers: 10 volunteers of the AIC group “Los Tres Brazos”

Partners: Daughters of Charity – Dominican Republic; Dominican Ministry of Health.

Total Budget for the project: 14,200 Euros
Amount requested to donor: 14,200 Euros
Local contribution: the work time of local AIC volunteers, and running costs by Daughters of Charity

Bank coordinates:
Account Holder: AIC Solidarité
Bank name: ING
Address of the bank: Rue des Wallons 2b - 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve - Belgium
Account number: 350-1025229-58
IBAN: BE95 3501 0252 2958
SWIFT: BBRUBEBB

December 2005