SLF home > july 2007 grassroots > Africa: a continent of orphans

Africa: a continent of orphans

Africa has become a continent of orphans. Thirteen million children have lost their parents to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa – more than the total number of every boy and girl under 18 currently living in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Norway and Sweden combined. The numbers are staggering – there are many countries, from Uganda to Swaziland, where 10-15% of the total population will be orphans by the year 2010.

For children orphaned by AIDS, the trauma begins as they watch their parents’ health deteriorate: many children are withdrawn from school to go to work or to care for their sick parents and grandparents or their younger siblings. After their parents die, children often live with their overstretched and overwhelmed extended family members. In many countries across sub-Saharan Africa, up to 40-60% of AIDS orphans live in grandmother-headed households.

The problem is big – beyond us – but that cannot stop us from doing something. We’ll do it one child at a time, one grandmother at a time and this is a wonderful beginning."

– Jackson Kaguri, founder, Nyaka AIDS Orphans School, Uganda

In August 2006, at the Grandmothers’ Gathering, and again in May 2007, the Stephen Lewis Foundation invited African grandmothers and project coordinators to visit Canada and share their personal experiences – to speak as ambassadors for other women in their circumstances and the millions of children across the continent orphaned by AIDS.

The stories have a grim repetitiveness across sub-Saharan Africa: grandmothers and orphaned children struggling to find adequate food and shelter, to buy clothing and to pay for school fees, uniforms and school supplies. Grandmothers speak of the emotional trauma that their grandchildren endure – their grief, anger and bewilderment at the loss of their parents, and the heavy burden of stigma that still surrounds HIV/AIDS in so many communities.

Many grandmothers struggle with how to talk to their grandchildren – particularly teenagers – about difficult, often taboo, topics: safer sex, teenage pregnancy, sexual violence and HIV. Those caring for HIV positive children also face the challenge of providing their grandchildren adequate nutrition, health care and life-saving antiretroviral drugs.

Underlying the grandmothers’ concerns is their fear about what will happen to the children once they die. They worry that their grandchildren will join a growing number of child-headed households, where the oldest sibling cares for the younger ones, often with little or no support.

During her visit to Halifax granny groups in May 2007, Kenyan grandmother Joyce Kageci Gichuna asked, “What happens when I go to sleep and do not wake up?”

Joyce described how she supports four orphans – her adopted grandchildren – in their own home by providing rent, food, love and emotional support. Although the children seem relatively happy and live in a stable environment, she wonders about their future: “You look at them – beautiful, nice, innocent kids – but you are afraid [for] their tomorrow.”

The grandmothers see education as the key to a hopeful future for their grandchildren. Everyone understands that without it, girls in particular are more vulnerable to early marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse, and are at greater risk of contracting HIV. Infection rates are at least twice as high among young people who do not finish primary school as those who do.

Many orphans are not able to attend school because they cannot afford to pay the required school fees, or buy shoes, uniforms or school supplies. For most, the costs of secondary school and university put higher education out of reach, even for the brightest students. Time and again, the grandmothers stressed the importance of free education for the primary years and beyond, particularly for girls.“We do not want to waste brains,” one grandmother said, while another added, “Knowing that kids have hope for a better future makes it easier for us.”

Florence Apondu, a grandmother and principal of a school in rural Kenya where one third of the student body are orphans, spoke of her efforts to ensure that her students feel a sense of belonging. By visiting the children in their homes, arranging for the distribution of blankets, clothing and other necessities, starting clubs in school that provide psychosocial support, and organizing a school feeding programme, Florence and the other teachers work to ensure that the basic needs of the children are met and that they feel loved and included in the community. “I also grew up as an orphan,’ Florence said. “I empathize so much, and I encourage them, because I know that without education, I could not have been their teacher. And that has helped some children work harder, and even go for higher levels of education.”

Millions of children orphaned by AIDS are now teenagers. Although some now live with loving families, a vast number have grown up with limited guidance, nurture and support. How will they become resilient, confident adults, without their parents and grandparents to support them?

The challenge ahead is a daunting one. As the pandemic evolves, so must our response: just as grandmothers have emerged as the unsung heroes of Africa, we must also look to the potential of youth – in Africa and Canada – as a means through which the pandemic will be overcome.

The subtext to many of the discussions was the grandmothers’ pervasive fear about what would happen after they died.

Who would care for the children?
How would they bear loss heaped upon loss?
How would they recover?
Who would become their parents and give them the nurturing and continuity that they so desperately need?
Where would the money come from to ensure that they could continue their education?
Would they be able to stay together?

There are no easy answers, but... the grassroots projects provide some forum for discussion of these fears, as well as a place for grannies to draw together, find solutions, and assure each other that someone will always be there to care for their families.”

— excerpt from the Grandmothers' Gathering report, Grandmothers to Grandmothers: The Dawn of a New Movement by Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, Executive Director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation

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