Rural AIDS orphans abandoned

By Samali T. NyanziA famous African proverb “An elephant can never fail to carry it’s tasks” has been passed on from generation to generation. Often, this happens during nights when children assemble by the hearth to be told stories about life. However, economic constraints have today turned the African culture upside down. The tusks have become too heavy for the elephant. The role of parenting is fast shifting to the media, especially the radio, newspapers, television and computers.For the unfortunate children, who lose their parents to AIDS, the mantle of parenting automatically passes on to them. I made my way to a remote village in southwestern Uganda to fulfil a promise I made to a friend. He was in America waiting for the much coveted green card, which would take him another three years. As I got out of the bus, a bicycle man offered to transport me to my destination. However, after an hour’s ride through stony winding paths, he said he could take me no further. the hill was steep prompting me to ask him whether we were in Nyakyinengo, to which he affirmed. However, I could see no house nor could I hear any human voice. The cyclist urged me to walk uphill for two miles, turn right and then descend. On and on I walked, cursing why I accepted to undertake the task.It was hot and dusty, but I trudged on for about an hour and was about to abandon the mission when I heard a voice of a child. I quickly walked towards the direction of the voice.There were two small huts surrounded by overgrown grass. On drawing closer, I saw four emaciated children seated on grass with an old and frail woman by them. Crouching on a low stool, she leaned on a stick and looked at me with sightless eyes.Rita, the eldest of the children, was eight, followed by Nora, six and twins James and John three. John was crying for the unripe bananas that were not enough for all of them.“Where is your father?” I asked Rita as the old lady seemed hard of hearing.“He is dead!” Rita said.“What about your mother? “Mother is dead!” she answered, pointing to a fresh mound of soil 10 metres away. The twins ran to the grave. Scratching the top soil, they wailed, “Maama, come out, we are hungry, we want food.“Walking slowly towards them, I picked some sweets from my bag and gave them. They blankly stared at the sweets. I unwrapped the sweets, put one in my mouth and told them to open their mouths. I put a sweet in each of the twins’ mouths. They grinned with delight on tasting the sweets. Others who were looking on, came running.They stretched out their small and dirty hands, asking for sweets too. This reminded me of Oliver Twist’s “some more please.” I checked my bag but there was no sweet. I promised to bring them more next time, but their disappointed faces were heartbreaking.“What caused the death of your parents? “Mother was bewitched with AIDS so was my father,” Rita answered.“Where do you get food and water? “I collect water from a well some two miles away. There is some food in the garden. We roast cassava and sweet potatoes. I also catch sun dry grasshoppers. We share all among ourselves including grandmother. We also eat mangoes, paw paws and guavas, and drink water so as to get satisfied.“Do you have neighbours?“Yes, but they are scattered and far.Then, I was suddenly startled by a loud cry of a baby which made Rita burst into laughter.“It is only Vicky,” she said.Inside their hut, a naked baby lay on a foul- smelling tattered blanket on mud floor. Mucus was flowing down her mouth as she cried. Her siblings dipped dirty forefingers in an old tin and put drops of water in his open mouth, but he kept crying.Rita got a ripe mango from her pocket. Biting deeply, she sucked out the yellow juice and like a mother bird feeding its young, Rita stooped to feed the baby. The baby stopped crying and swallowed. Rita repeated the process till she finished the mango. The manner of feeding the baby shocked me but the children’s creativity left me amazed. Despite the adverse conditions, the baby was surviving through the care of child-mothers and the grace of God.In spite of government efforts to break the conspiracy of silence about AIDS, the failure to have equitable resource allocation, has led to its shortcomings. AIDS orphans in remote areas have been left out in the cold. Rose Kabugo, a codumentalist with Uganda AIDS Commission said that they are aware of the problem and are now compiling data to address it. Ngambi Wilbroad, a social worker with Aids, Widows & Orphans, Family Support (AWOFS), a home-care in Nsambya hospital said,“It is unfortunate there is duplicity of services, so many non-governmental organisations (NGO) catering for orphans and AIDS victims are located in urban areas, leaving the enormous needs in remote areas unfulfilled.Yet the majority of people live in rural areas,” Ngambi said. He cited examples like Mildmay, Watoto Ministries, Rubaga Home-care, and Kibuli Home-care, adding that most of the health centres like the one in his village in Ibanda were not operational because of lack of drugs.The number of children orphaned by AIDS is skyrocketing and the traditional African extended family is breaking down under the unprecedented burden of the pandemic. (UNAIDS December 1999). Government should pass a law limiting the number of NGOs offering similar services in a given area. Special consideration should be given to NGOs in remote areas as an incentive for hardships faced in working there. By 1999, over 1.77 million children had been orphaned by AIDS which is the highest figure in the World (UAC June 2001). The report of 2001 released from United Nations Population Fund says Uganda will soon have the fifth highest population in the whole of Africa if current population growth rates persist, yet it has the lowest life expectancy, 45 for men and 47 for women. One wonders what will happen to those children who are left behind without parents or anyone to cater for them.Although government has tried to rebuild health structures, only half of Ugandans have access to health care and 134 children out of every 1,000 live births, will not celebrate their fifth birthday (UNICEF 2000).For those orphans in the remote areas, children’s rights to good nutrition , immunisation, and education are still a faraway dream if not an impossible one. It is up to us to ensure that public recognition of HIV/AIDS epidemic changes from ‘their problem’ to ‘our problem’ especially for these dear small ones. This entails not only empathy but also good budgeting.