You Can Help

We realize that after reading this week's Cover Story, you may want to do something. Working with Netaid.org an arm of the U.N. using the Internet to help those in trouble, TIME has developed opportunities to lend a hand. You can contribute by visiting Netaid.org This is not our first project. In the past two years, TIME readers have saved mothers' lives in Rwanda, found homes for orphans in Africa and helped Sierra Leonean war wounded get medical treatment. If you prefer to send a check, an address is available on the Netaid site. AOL members can go to keyword Breaking the Silence.

THE GOALS

--Educate 200,000 African children about AIDS --Raise $1.2 million to help African and Asian prevention --Train 500 health workers; distribute 5,000 health kits

EDUCATION Outreach Kit

South Africa has one of the youngest populations in the world--more than 40% under 18. LoveLife seminars familiarize kids with the risks of sex and provide medical advice for those too scared to bring up the disease at home. A single kit, which includes tools for learning, could save dozens of children's lives. Goal: educate 80,000 kids. ONE KIT: $17

COMPASSION Street-Child Placement

AIDS has created a generation of orphans, below, who live on the streets in deep poverty. No one cares for them, and they are a nexus for another generation of infection--360,000 kids have been made homeless this way. This placement program aims to find homes for some of them--and to kick-start international awareness of the problem. Goal: find homes for 1,320 children. ONE KIT: $59

HEALTH ASSISTANCE Training/Care Kit

With infection rates in Zimbabwe topping 25%, the nation's medical services are overloaded. The task of coping has fallen to community and family members. Your donation will train local workers to provide families with the knowledge and supplies to care for the sick, helping them live longer and preventing transmission to others. Goal: train 500 workers. ONE KIT: $19

PREVENTION Coastal Education Kit

Seafarers and their wives on Myanmar's coast are very vulnerable to HIV. The virus spreads when fishermen return from trips and transmit HIV to their wives, who pass it to unborn or nursing children. Your donation will help slow the spread of AIDS near Kawthaung, where sex education and condoms are not widely available. Goal: distribute 600,000 condoms. ONE KIT: $25

FAMILY ASSISTANCE Business-Start Kit

You can help Zambian women keep their families together. Many women who lose their husbands to AIDS have no way to make a living. These kits give them loans and training so they can start their businesses, enabling them to care for their own children and any orphans they take in. Our goal: assist 240 women to help 1,440 children. ONE KIT: $59