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Touching Tiny Lives Foundation
Dan explained that the mission of TTLF is not to create an orphanage which would be bound by limited occupancy, but to create a safe-home where children could come to receive shelter, food, and medicine to treat diseases associated with AIDS as well as receive the attention of full-time, loving caregivers. The idea is to get the child healthy enough to return to their extended family in the villages. Most children that come to the TTLF safe home have been orphaned because both parents have died from AIDS and 1/3 of the children are themselves infected with the virus. Upon “graduation” from the safe-home children and their families are still cared for by TTLF’s outreach program which provides financial support, school tuition, medications, food, seeds if necessary, etc. “Half the babies who arrive at the safe-home are on death’s door,” Dan said, “but there are 100 children still alive in surrounding villages through TTLF’s efforts.” Another key component to TTLF, being able to test the pregnant women who may be HIV positive, has been a real challenge due to cultural issues. Lesotho women don’t talk about their pregnancy because of the belief that discussing a pending birth will bring ill health to their baby. This makes preventing virus transmission to the newborn even more challenging, as most children contract the virus during delivery and/or from breast feeding. A medication that costs about $5 can be given to the mother and child at the time of birth, which then reduces the transmission of the virus by over 50 percent. Additionally, TTLF is working diligently to wards decreasing mother-to-child transmission by educating women and empowering them to make educated decisions. Easy to administer oral HIV testing kits are now being used instead of having to do a needle stick to determine if a mother has the disease, thus reducing transmission to her newborn.
It is at times easy to be overwhelmed by the issues facing our global community – issues with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Yet, the Touching Tiny Lives Foundation is indeed having a profound impact on the children of Lesotho. Dan states that the motto of TTLF – Saving Children, One Life at a Time - is now a daily reality made possible in part by the generosity of the Church of the Nativity parish.
Click to learn more about Touching Tiny Lives Foundation, and see the impact of Nativity’s support. |
There are countless opportunities to impact social concerns right here in Kansas City, but the global community often finds many of our brothers and sisters in need of basic nutrition, medicines, and shelter. Touching Tiny Lives Foundation (TTLF) is an example of Nativity parishioners reaching out to embrace a wider global calling – addressing the daunting challenge of countless children orphaned or impacted by the AIDS virus. While new pediatric HIV infections in America have all but ceased, over 600,000 children die world wide every year from AIDS. Over 15 million children are orphaned by a disease running rampant in neglected corners of our world. 
The work of TTLF traces its origin to Lesotho - a small, obscure mountainous country completely landlocked within South Africa. Lesotho is a very poor country without many natural resources, and within the country are 100,000 children orphaned by the AIDS virus of which 27,000 are HIV positive. Dan and Christy Towle, Nativity parishioners, helped to establish TTLF after reading about the work of fellow Notre Dame alumnus Ken Storen – a Peace Corps volunteer working in Lesotho. Touching Tiny Lives Foundation is a “non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization committed to ensuring the health and dignity of children impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic”. Through the provision of AIDS related medical care, basic subsistence support, implementation of HIV transmission prevention programs, and establishing service opportunity for college students, TTLF is having a profound impact in Africa in the small country of Lesotho.
Nthabeleng Lephoto, the “Head Mother” at the TTLF safe-home in Lesotho, left her homeland for the first time ever and traveled to the U.S. in October 2006. She was able to attend a school Mass at Nativity. She also met with existing local TTLF donors within the Nativity parish, and spoke with some of the parish office staff in order to personally thank Nativity for supporting the children. Nthabeleng spoke to a religion class at St. Thomas Aquinas in preparation for a highly successful fund-raising event organized by Abby Hannifan, Kevin Towle, and Brian Towle, students and Nativity parishioners. The event, a “1000 Mile Relay” has raised over $50,000 during the past two years and was featured in an article in The Leaven. 
“We aren’t some big Foundation in New York with corporate offices and a huge overhead,” Dan said. “We were founded right here in Leawood on our back porch, and our work is reaching halfway around the world. Children are alive in Lesotho today because of the generosity of Nativity. These young victims of a devastating, yet curable disease deserve the same chance to run, smile, and giggle as our own children. No child should be sentenced to death simply because of their birthplace. All of our donors, especially those within Nativity, should take pride in reaching out halfway around the world to the most vulnerable of God’s children.” 