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Support for AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Orphans at a Christmas party

The Bottom Line - 3000 orphans

Ingwavuma Orphan Care began identifying orphans in the community and as the area is around 2100 square kms this was a major undertaking. IOC only has the resources to help a fraction of the 3000 AIDS orphans on its database, but the interventions are strong for those it can help.

Interventions

Our social worker and paralegal officers help get birth certificates and IDs and then to apply for governmental foster care grants.
In the meantime emergency food parcels are provided.
Our orphan clubs in 20 schools provide structured psycho-social support to 400 orphans.
We hold orphan camps to give the children a wider view of the world.
We organise Christmas parties, each for 300 orphans, to raise awareness of the problem within each community.
We provide a community-based health service so that it is not children who must tend to their parent dying of AIDS.
We try to get their carers involved in one of our income generating projects.
We hold support groups for HIV+ children and their carers.
Our community-based carers provide training in memory boxes where a dying parent can leave momentos for their children in a positive way.

Current pressing needs:

Money for school uniforms - our sewing project can make them cheaply.
Other clothes - shoes, underwear etc.
Food parcel materials, washing powder and soap

Hlengiwe Gumede (not her real name) has full blown AIDS and was thrown out of her family's house. She has a 6 month old baby who is also HIV+ and they live in a self-made shack of reeds with many gaps. At times when the AIDS related illnesses are too debilitating she is unable to fetch water and when we found them they often went thirsty because there was no-one to help. To protect their privacy we cannot show a photograph.

Once our community-based carers were informed they began visiting regularly. Our social worker and paralegals initiated the beaurocratic processes to get disability grants and child care grants. We motivated nearby churches to volunteer and rebuild their shack using local materials and to fetch firewood and water when Hlengiwe is unable to do so.

They received a monthly food parcel while the paralegals obtained their grants and they attend a monthly support group with other carers of HIV+ children where Hlengiwe receives advice on ARVs and all the many issues surrounding HIV on the ground.