On Thursday evening, Pop!Tech hosted a dinner in New York City’s Harvard Club to benefit 2006 Speaker and AIDS Activist Zinhle “Zinny” Thabethe and the Siphithemba Choir (formerly Sinikithemba Choir).

But the evening was more than just a charity dinner, it was a call for action. We invited 40 senior level executives and change agent from varied fields to put our minds together for three discrete projects. The Choir, comprising of HIV + men and women from Durban, South Africa, have become independent of the McCord Hospital and are in the process of being a legally incorporated entity. Pop!Tech is helping them to achieve this as well as to secure studio recording time to produce another album, increase the Choir’s international visibility and to help them develop a self-sustaining business model.

Zinny presented her compelling story to the guests and even surprised everyone with a moving musical performance in Zulu. Copies of Keefe Murren’s documentary film iThemba | Hope were also distributed to help spread the amazing story of the Siphithemba Choir.

The dinner is the first step Pop!Tech’s growing mission to amplify the signal of inspiring projects like the Choirs and the work of Partners, the AIDS treatment program in rural South Africa where Zinny works with Dr. Krista Dong.

Check back for more developments on this project and we would also like to extend the ask to everyone on the blogosphere who would like to learn more about the Choir and help to bring awareness to their work by contacting me at june (at)poptech.org.

photos by Joshua Bright.