"All I can think of is all the people who didn't say anything during the Holocaust," Seaman said. "We have our own type of Holocaust in Africa right now. For people to ignore it is wrong."

By sending items such as twin-size bed sheets and thermometers to Zimbabwe, Seaman and her fellow Isle City of Alameda Business and Professional Women members say they are helping put to ease some of the suffering of those with AIDS.

"Even though I'll never meet them," said member Kimberlee Garfinckle, "I feel at least in their final days I tried to make their lives more comfortable."

The Alameda chapter of the national organization has formed a Project Africa committee, which collects items and donations. They send them to the Zimbabwe BPW chapter, in the village of Kadoma.

"About 2,500 people die in Zimbabwe every week just from AIDS," said Garfinckle, chair of Project Africa. "Yet the whole world was up in arms over 30 people who died of SARS. AIDS is an epidemic."

Zimbabwe is slightly larger than Montana, with a population of 12.5 million. In 2001, 2 million people there were living with HIV or AIDS, according to international health authorities. Today, the average life expectancy is only 31 years old, the experts said.

Sheena Freeman, 57, is a member of the Kadoma BPW chapter. With the fabric scraps, yarn and crochet needles the Alameda chapter sends, she teaches women how to make clothing to dress their families, and sell in the marketplace.

"It gives them a tremendous boost that people the other side of the world are thinking of them," Freeman wrote in an e-mail from Kadoma. "Supplies and knowledge of the acquired skills have spread from Kadoma to the various home villages of members to encourage and empower rural women who have the hardest life of all."

Nearly 80 percent of Zimbabwe's population lives below the poverty line. Many households skip eating at least one to two days per week, according to the Consortium for Southern Africa's Food Emergency.

The value of assets owned per household averages less than the cost of a dress sold in the capital city of Harare.

Freeman encourages rural mothers to run small businesses from home. As a single parent of three adult children, she has been self-employed for 28 years.

"We can refloat the economy if we can get the grassroots people, especially women, developing a wide variety of skills so each person has something different to bring to the marketplace," Freeman said. "Much of what I teach is about making use of what most people regard as rubbish or useless."

Supplies from the United States are of great value. Each box of supplies costs about $50, and takes about five weeks to arrive. Sheets are used to cover beds and oozing sores, Freeman said. Medical items go to Zimbabwe hospices, most of which are overcrowded and without supplies.

"AIDS itself is not a death sentence," said Freeman, who has worked as a caregiver at the Kadoma Island Hospice. "It is all the opportunistic diseases that kill. If the immune system can be strengthened so that it can resist them, people with AIDS can live quite comfortably."

Project Africa's next goal is to partner with various East Bay businesses and organizations, Garfinckle said. She hopes that soon, customers who purchase a drink from a coffee shop also can drop off a box of Band-aids. BPW members could pick up supplies from various locations.

"We really want to make it bigger, to take it to another level," she said. "The more we can send, the better off they'll be. Every day, there's another person who needs the same help."

For more information, call 523-7024 or visit www.bpwislecity.org . For donations, make checks for Project Africa payable to Isle City BPW, P.O. Box 1569, Alameda 94501.