In February 2018, TTF USA Board members Tom, Colleen, Kris along with young Tim took a trip to Zambia to reconnect with the staff and see what happening, on the ground.
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As always the trip felt way too short, but was a great way to witness how your donations are improving  the lives of the patients at the TTF clinic. Being physically present and witnessing the work first hand really makes us feel proud of the work that is being done. We are so fortunate to see the smiling faces of the children and the changes the work of TTF is having on these vulnerable individuals’ lives. 

One of the highlights of the trip was on a clinic day, where families come in for check-ups, counselling and to pick up their medication. We were able to hand out a food package of eggs, oil, flour, beans, onion, potatoes, rice and sugar to each of the families who are in the Nutrition Program. We heard stories from the team and patients about how this program had changed children’s lives. Your donations have made this possible. 

We saw many pregnant women who are supported with information and tools to prevent the transfer of HIV to their unborn child.  Alongside medication, TTF supports these women with birthing hampers.  Just a small hamper including a nappy, cotton wool, a blanket, latex gloves, an umbilical cord clamp and disinfectant can mean the difference between birthing at home – or safely at a clinic. It was great to hear the results and successes and that in 2016 & 2017, thanks to you, ZERO babies were born HIV+.

The staff and the patients are so very grateful for all of the donations from you, our supporters.  Because of you, TTF is able to provide a complete package medication, nutrition, counseling and social support for entire families.  Without your help these families would not be able to live normal healthy lives. 

We continue to be grateful to all of our donors for your support. Your donations are changing lives, we have witnessed it many times first hand, but after our visit feel even more compelled to continue our work . Together we can change lives and work towards a generation where no child has HIV.
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Thank you! ​

Tiny Tim & Friends has entered a film competition, Every Footstep Counts, and we need your help. 

The competition aims to showcase and celebrate the successes organisations, like Tiny Tim & Friends, are making worldwide that are integral to end mother-to-child transmission and paediatric HIV.  By following this link and voting for Tiny Tim & Friends  film, "The Power of Living Positively", you can help us to win £10,000 and the opportunity to attend the International AIDS Conference in 2018 and showcase our work to global leaders in the field of HIV. 

Vote for Tiny Tim & Friends Film and help us to win £10,000. 

The Six films with the most votes will go to a judging panel where the top two will be classified as winners. So we need your votes! 

Tiny Tim & Friends' film focuses on the work of one of our community health volunteers, Margaret. Margaret lives positively within her community, sharing her status to encourage others to access HIV testing and treatment. Through her work with the TTF Clinic she reaches out to vulnerable children and pregnant women who would have otherwise not accessed services. Every day she engages with new people, working to ensure children and pregnant women living with HIV are accessing treatment and staying in care. She continually follows TTF's Mission -  working towards a future where no child is living with HIV.   

Watch the video on the Every Footstep Counts website and vote for Tiny Tim & Friends - The Power of Positivity

Blessings, 14, is shy. I can see she has a lot of potential if she was given the right opportunities in life. But she doesn't make friends easily. She stigmatizes herself and withdraws, denying herself the support network she desperately needs to shine.

I sit with her and talk to her about living with HIV. With support from TTF her mum told her she is HIV+. To help her understand what this means Blessings is attending a children's support group. She is learning about HIV and how to live healthily.

She is clever and explains brilliantly about the things she has learned. She says she feels better having made friends at the support group but I know she often sits to the side, quietly taking in the scenes around her, too shy to interact with her peers.

I ask Blessings how she feels about living with HIV. She tells me she feels bad. She says she hears people saying things about people living with HIV that make her feel bad about herself. Even with HIV education she continues to self stigmatize.

But it doesn’t have to be this way for Blessings.

Our staff take their time to get to know her needs beyond HIV treatment, they will help her find a way to feel good about herself.

We make the TTF clinic a place where confidence and independence can be gained. But this doesn't happen overnight and we cant do it alone. More than ever we need your help to change lives.This year we are aiming to raise $20,000 to support the Tiny Tim & Friends Clinic and we need your support.  

I urge you to give a child like Blessings a gift this Christmas by donating to Tiny Tim & Friends. Your support ensures Blessings, and many other children like her can get the right treatment, care and counseling they need to thrive in life.

Thank you

Jac Connell, Director, Tiny Tim & Friends Zambia. 

It's the donors at Tiny Tim & Friends who are pivotal to our work. We wanted to share with you the story of one donor and why she supports our work. ​

Written by Eileen Leo, TTF Donor: 
"I will never forget how I first heard about Tiny Tim & Friends and how I came to meet Dr. Tim, his lovely parents, Betty and Tom, Tiny Tim, his terrific young son, and his wonderful siblings. 

I don’t usually read the Edina Sun newspaper, but that day I was skimming it and noticed a short article about a Fundraiser for a local non-profit, Tiny Tim & Friends, to support the work of Dr. Tim Meade, a pediatric HIV/AIDS specialist in Zambia. 

Curious to know more, I found Betty and Tom’s phone number, called, and enjoyed a lovely chat with Betty who warmly invited me to attend the fundraiser.  In listening to Dr. Tim tell the story of Tiny Tim & Friends and show photos of the children and the work they do I was captivated by his passion and zeal, the ongoing efforts of the Clinic’s team, and the amazing progress of hundreds of children when tested and begun on a regimen of medicine.  
​Dr. Tim’s presentation enlarged my world and engaged my heart.  Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  Dr. Tim was the change."  

"Tom and Betty Meade launched Tiny Tim & Friends to support their son’s work, and to tell the world about the children in Zambia and how we can help.   They have made 7 or 8 trips to visit the clinic compound in Lusaka, Zambia!!   

Their crowning jewel is Tiny Tim, Dr. Tim’s wonderful son.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him a few times when he and his Dad visited “Grandma and Grandpa” who hosted  fun fundraisers every summer.  Betty and Tom’s charisma is something to be experienced!  It was infectious; I wanted to do something to help and be a part of their work. I offered to make quilts to sell at a fundraiser.   Little did I know that Tom would build a beautiful quilt rack !!! 

Many of my friends have purses, baskets, and jewelry made by talented Zambian women.  The very personal connection I felt when I found their names written on a little piece of paper in the purse, or on the bottom of a basket.  I am the richer for having the women’s beautifully woven colorful baskets in my home, for carrying their purses knitted out of colorful plastic bags,  proudly telling the story of Tiny Tim & Friends."

"I have saved every newsletter filled with clinic updates, progress celebrated, photos, interning college students who have caught Dr. Tim’s passion, ongoing concerns, new endeavors, ways to help. 
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The bliss and the blisters.  And the blessed.  I am blessed for having known Dr. Tim.  I always wanted to go to Zambia to visit and volunteer for a month or so, maybe help in the school.  I never did go to Zambia but never will lose my heartfelt connection and commitment to the children and to Dr. Tim’s dream.  I decided to honor Dr. Tim by becoming a monthly donor and be an ongoing part of the team.   Thanks to Betty and Tom Meade, “Tiny Tim & Friends” has hundreds of people walking the path behind Dr. Tim. 

​Please join us…there’s room for you on the path.
 
For the love of children and in memory of Dr. Tim, thank you."