ZAMBIA: Help for child-headed homes

Photo: Nebert Mulenga/IRIN

Memory Kawaya (extreme left), is among several thousand orphans who head homes in Zambia.

LUSAKA, 8 December 2006 (IRIN) - Zambia is grappling with the growing problem of thousands of child-headed homes, created by one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world.

Kapiri Mposhi, a commercial hub in central Zambia, about 200km north of the capital, Lusaka, has one of the highest levels of HIV prevalence in the country and a significant number of child-headed homes. UNAIDS estimates the national HIV rate at 17 percent.

The town is situated halfway between the industrial Copperbelt province and Lusaka on the Great North road, the only highway linking Zambia to Tanzania in the northeast, and is a mandatory stop for truckers. It is also a significant stop on the railway line connecting Zambia and Tanzania.

"Because it is a transport hub, frequented by truckers, the town has become a commercial sex centre with a high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate," said James Zulu, a spokesman for the Zambia Red Cross Society, which runs programmes supporting child-headed households.

The UNAIDS '2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic' estimated that Zambia had about 710,000 AIDS orphans, of which over six percent were homeless and less than one percent were accommodated in orphanages. The rest either fend for themselves in their parents' homes or are looked after by elderly grandparents.

According to Charles Mwinuna, district director of health in Kapiri Mposhi, there are over 850 officially registered orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in a population of less than 300,000 but the unofficial number could be higher. "We have not been able to establish as yet how many of these vulnerable children are currently in child-headed homes, but we know that they should be in big numbers because of the locality and socioeconomic nature of this town, which has put people at greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS."

Many orphaned children end up as sex workers along the highway, but there are exceptions. Memory Kawaya, 16, has looked after her two younger siblings for the past seven years. The family of three lives in a grass-thatched hut on the outskirts of town. She attends schools and sells mushrooms to help support the family, and she and her siblings have twice tested negative for HIV. Kawaya is determined to maintain her negative status by abstaining from sex.

"Many people have been approaching me for sex and [they] promise to give me money, but I refuse to give in because of what I have heard and seen about HIV/AIDS. I want to become a teacher after completing school, so that I can look after my brother and sister - that's why I don't even think about any sexual relationship," she said.

Kawaya was nine when she lost her mother, and her two siblings were aged seven and five. "We do not have any relative to look after us ... we have been living like this and we often eat only once per day - we can't afford three meals. I am only happy that we are all in school, although I am usually frustrated by my headmaster, who is always harsh with me for not looking as smart as other pupils," she said. They grow cassava, beans and maize in an adjoining plot to help feed themselves.

The Red Cross Society has started initiatives working with vulnerable children. "We have identified 734 orphans and vulnerable children in the town, whom we support with groceries, clothing and school fees," said Zulu. The Red Cross caregivers also visit child-headed households in Kapiri Mposhi to ensure they are coping.

Zulu said the society was also encouraging older children to run small businesses, mostly vending, to support their families. "We do not want to encourage child labour, but we provide them with small amounts of money to buy groceries or other foodstuffs to sell."

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