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who
will care for the orphans?
The
first question is who will look after the children? Families must
form the first line of defence of any effective response and
extended family structures have already absorbed great numbers of
orphans. However the enormous strain upon the coping mechanisms of
families is becoming very evident as impoverished families become
ever poorer as they lose breadwinners and ever larger as they take
in more children.
Traditionally
women are the care providers but AIDs affects more women than men
and at a younger age. As the Aids epidemic advances the burden on
the remaining women to provide care will increase. Older women, the
grandmothers, the widows, who are usually the poorest of the poor
within communities, are now struggling to provide care to the
orphans.
The
magnitude of the emerging orphan crisis is such that all forms of
acceptable care within all communities must be considered. Every
opportunity must be taken to keep orphans within family and
community settings - the mass warehousing of hundreds of thousands
of young children must not become an option.
Families,
communities, institutions, NGOs and cash strapped governments will
need support and assistance on a long-term basis. The need of
material aid for 'community dependent children' has already proved
to be crucial as most communities dealing with the ever increasing
number of orphans are seriously impoverished from the outset. next...ANY
CHILD IS MY CHILD |
