Gardening tools for Dad will help an orphan of HIV/AIDS

No more boring socks and ties for Dad on Father's Day. World Vision's new online Gifts of Hope catalogue means you can buy an innovative gift for Dad that will benefit families in need in World Vision's projects in Malawi and Zambia, Africa. The online gift selection at www.worldvision.org.nz comprises 'dad gifts' such as gardening tools and fertiliser, sports equipment, and other gifts like blankets, cups and plates, and mosquito nets.

This is the first Father's Day the Gifts of Hope catalogue has been available, providing creative ways to link your dad to other dads struggling to care for their families in Africa.

"This is a great new idea for giving something to a dad that doesn't really need anything else, or is a bit tricky to buy for," says World Vision's Marketing Director Bruce Waldin. "You simply select a gift in your price range from our gift catalogue, and we will send you a card to give to your dad, so he knows what his gift was and where it's headed."

There are a number of themes running through the Gifts of Hope catalogue that appeal to dads. A vegetable kit is the perfect gift for a keen gardener - gardening tools, fertilizer and vegetable seeds will enable a family to plant a vegetable garden.

If your dad is a DIY dad, there is a gift of trade tools.

You can thank your dad for being a great provider by giving the unusual gift of a goat to impoverished families, which will provide a boost in nutrition and income.

Sending a child to school for a term will ease another dad's worry about their child's education and it gives a teenager the chance to escape poverty and have a better future.

Thank your dad for protecting and caring for you by giving a mosquito net to an African family to protect them from fatal mosquito bites that transfer malaria.

Mr Waldin says the gifts will go to specially selected communities in Malawi and Zambia, which have suffered greatly from the impact of HIV/AIDS. "HIV/AIDS is more than just a health problem in a place like Malawi, where over a million people are infected in the tiny country of 11 million people, and 650,000 children left vulnerable because of this pandemic which is killing off the productive generation."

Mr Waldin has received a report from a project worker in Blantyre, Malawi's largest city, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is over 20%. "She says HIV/AIDS is threatening the very existence of Malawi, and it's certainly threatening the good work World Vision has done in that country over the last 15 years."

"The gifts available through the Gifts of Hope catalogue are simple, practical goods that will make a huge difference to these struggling communities," he says.

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