ABOUT US
Vision
To improve the lives of people living with HIV and their families to ensure all can live positively and productively without stigma and discrimination.
Mission
To provide social support and community care to people living with HIV and their families and to support the education of orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV in Lalibela, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.
BEZA Association
BEZA Association was established in February 2005 by people living with HIV (PLHIV) in order to support others living with HIV in the community of Lalibela. Too often due to stigma and discrimination, PLHIV are outcast from their families and receive limited financial and social support. The BEZA Association was intiated to provide community care for PLHIV.
Currently, BEZA Association has 1010 members; 378 are women, 212 are men, 120 HIV+ orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and 300 OVCs who are directly affected by HIV.
A total of 32 local volunteers run the association and offer home-based care to other members that are too ill or infirm to care for themselves.
The BEZA Foundation was initiated by Bas (pictured above) and Charlotte Hollink, who met Melese Asefa (pictured above, first on the left) in September 2015 while on their honeymoon.
Bas and Charlotte were so inspired by the tireless work that Melese and the volunteers do every day to support the members of the association, that they wanted to support their work and help the association develop. Charlotte works for a international health charity and specialises in HIV and Bas works in the finance sector, so they decided to use their combined skills to support the BEZA Association and in December 2015, the BEZA Foundation was born.
The BEZA Foundation is a registered charity in the Netherlands that raises funds for BEZA Association in Lalibela. For more information please see our annual reports.