Members of the Mannam Volunteer Association pose with children at the Al Noor Orphanage in Cape Town, South Africa, earlier this year. / Courtesy of Mannam Volunteer Association

By John Redmond

The Mannam Volunteer Association held the charity concert “Mannam Blossoms Hope in South Africa” for children infected with HIV/AIDS in South Africa at Korea University on April 7. It was of immense value that various people of different backgrounds came together and enjoyed the concert in harmony.

HIV/AIDS is commonly associated as a disease affecting adults but children also suffer from it in South Africa. When parents are infected, children frequently quit going to school to manage family affairs without fully understanding the consequences. These children are subjected to discrimination and prejudice. Also, they are often vulnerable to sexual violence, increasing their risk of contracting AIDS.

Moreover, there are infants who are infected from birth by mother-to-child transmission. Around 25 to 30 percent of pregnant women are living with AIDS, and over 30 percent of them transmit the virus to their infants. Half of them usually die before they reach 2 and most of them die by 6.

In light of this, Mannam held a concert that could share messages of hope and love with the South African children affected by this situation. Over 230 expats attended this concert including performers Pinnacle The Hustler, Dongmyo Police Box, Jesse Day, Coco Valladares, and Sammy Clay. All members of the audience along with the performers came together through the music for one purpose ― to share hope with the children of South Africa affected by AIDS.

Among the audience was Mannam member Shakat from Uzbekistan. He expressed how pleased he was with the concert. “This charity concert was really good. I hope this concert will be helpful to South African children with AIDS,” he stated after the concert.

Hip-hop performer Jesse Day said, “The Mannam concert was a really special experience for me. Also, I feel very happy to have done something to help the innocent children who are victims of AIDS and I hope to be able to offer myself as a performer more and more for causes like this one.” The Vancouver native has appeared on Star King performing well-known Korean hip-hop songs.

All donations from the concert will be delivered to the Al Noor Orphanage located in Cape Town, South Africa. The Al Noor Orphanage focuses on helping children “whose parents are either infected and or affected by HIV/AIDS.” The Mannam branch in South Africa volunteers at this orphanage regularly. You can find more information on them at http://www.alnoororphanage.org.za.

Donations are still being accepted for Al Noor. The bank account is at Industrial Bank, 305-060799-01-017. For additional information, please visit http://www.facebook.com/mannamblossomhope or contact YuSeon Lee at 010-8769-6693.