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this page Newsletters - The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Children
Zimbabwe – Manicaland Diocese
During my visit to Zimbabwe in June 2007, I was involved in charity work with the Mothers’ Union in Manicaland, travelling around some of the rural villages and communities providing assistance to orphans and others in desperate need. Orphans and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe experience much struggle and hardship in trying to cope with the daily pressures in a nation greatly entangled in economic and political problems and where aid is scarce. The number of children affected by or living with HIV/AIDS has been rising in Zimbabwe. Manicaland, one of the country’s ten provinces, has approximately 200,000 orphaned children.
I was fortunate enough to be able to discuss some difficulties with an orphan named Chipo who was aged about nine. She shared with me some of the tough experiences that she faced when she lost both her parents to HIV-related illnesses. Chipo lost her father first and was left alone to bear the burden of caring for her ailing mother for six months before she too died. She could not have managed at all without the help of her widowed neighbour who sometimes assisted when she was away in school by looking after her sick mother and her other two siblings, one aged five and the other two. Chipo looked sickly and weak and very miserable and now lives with eleven children, all of whom have lost their parents. I wanted the elderly woman who now looks after her to take her to hospital but I do not think she did because it is quite a distance without reliable transport.
There are many others like Chipo, who are forced to look after themselves and to head households. Others have widowed grandmothers to look after them, but they too have no resources and need help themselves. The orphans are very vulnerable as they could be subjected to all kinds of serious abuses such as child labour and sexual exploitation.
Where lives of orphans in their village or community have been found to be unsustainable, they have been placed in orphanages. Many of these depend on church funds and donations and with the economic problems facing Zimbabwe at the moment, the Diocese cannot cope with the repairs and they are terrible. I saw leaking roofs, broken-down toilets and broken floors. One orphanage, attached to a hospital, used to have a garden which was self-sufficient, but now the borehole and the supplying well are dry and the leaking pipes need replacement. Much effort is being
made throughout the country to limit placements in orphanages and find better ways of having children remain in their communities where they might be able to experience more of family life.
The Mothers’ Union makes a great effort to relieve hardships and make the orphans’ lives a bit more bearable by providing them with food, clothing, blankets, books and toys as well as access to medical and health resources. They also give financial assistance so the children can attend school. Housing and accommodation assistance are provided. During the visit, the Mothers’ Union members handed out blankets to many orphans (sadly there were not enough for all those who had been identified).
To raise money for these projects, the Mothers’ Union engages in activities such as selling and trading household commodities and vegetable marketing. Members of the community assist in the building and construction of schools, some by providing bricks from their own resources and others by moulding the bricks on site.
Psychological support is given especially to AIDS/HIV orphaned children so they are able to cope with saddening losses of their families and loved ones by providing counselling services, helping them create happy memory family books, and providing relaxation and therapy centres for them to adjust to their circumstances. The Mothers’ Union also tries to identify parents who wish to foster, adopt, or provide holidays, overnight or long weekend breaks for the children.
Mothers’ Union members also visit the orphans to befriend them and promote life skills. They may assist the youth with training for such projects as how to form and run savings and lending groups, and farming activities such as chicken-rearing and crop-growing to sustain themselves in the future.
Provision of support to vulnerable, disadvantaged and HIV/AIDS orphans is an on-going exercise for the Mothers’ Union in Manicaland and we are looking forward to expanding our work to cover more communities and villages. The Mothers’ Union meets regularly with leaders of the church, village elders and members of the community to discuss how everyone can best contribute towards the successful building of a better society. The Mothers’ Union is grateful for all those who contribute wholeheartedly for the betterment of these suffering children through the generous donation of time, finance and other help.
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