Thyolo

IMD Community Session: FOCHTA -- Friends of Claude Ho in Thyolo Association in Malawi, East Africa

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• published: 24 May 2013
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With Dr. Leopold Buhendwa and Steven Labana, both of whom worked for MSF Belgium, Claude Ho from Sydney, Australia founded a rural area in Malawi in 2003 to take care of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS that couldn't continue school because of the social isolation they were victims of. The primary focus of FOCHTA, a registered non-governmental organisation ("NGO") is on education and training for the children, being convinced that education is the surest path away from poverty. But there is also a big importance of addressing the social, physical and emotional needs of the children to be able to provide them with the life skills they need to meet the challenges in their lives. Several aspects of sustainable development are present in the way FOCHTA do things. Helping the children to get the skills to act on their own situation is the main one. But there are also important cultural, environmental and "micro entrepreneurship" aspects that contributes to make the people evaluate within sustainable conditions. Claude Ho was born in Hong Kong and had worked as a photographer for 40 years before retiring to Sydney in 2011. He has had extensive experience practising as a commercial photographer as well as being a photo-journalist. Apart from assignments to many countries, he had also volunteered to be a pro-bono photographer for many NGOs, which included covering 11 countries in Africa, as well as in Asia and Central America for MSF, ORBIS, etc. He makes wonderful photographs focusing on people and communities in developing countries and has had more than two dozen solo exhibitions in many countries.