Photo: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund
Finding out exactly how many child-headed households (CHH) there are in the world is harder than it ought to be.
How come? Because, by their nature, CHH are often forced to retreat, to get along with life as best they can, attracting as little attention in order to keep safe.
But what we do know is this:
- According to UNAIDS there are 15 million children orphaned by AIDS
- In Rwanda alone there are as many as 10,000 CHH
- One in ten households in Swaziland is run by orphans
It’s not only AIDS that causes CHH – malaria, poor health care and internal conflict all play their part too – but there is often an added stigma that is attached to the children whose parents have died HIV positive. These kids are forced to live on the margins, vulnerable to those who would do them harm. Too often they have to sacrifice what little education they could hope for in favour of scraping together enough money to provide food.
The word ‘without’ features heavily in any description of CHH.l Without adult supervision the children are increasingly vulnerable. Without income they are often forced to choose daily survival over education. Without the years behind them they can struggle to defend themselves against a system that is biased against them. Some CHH may struggle to hold onto their parents’ property, others deal with prejudice as doctors refuse to see them without an adult or neighbours refuse to help these stigmatised victims of AIDS.
And yet, in the middle of all that they are without, there are some simple facts worth holding on to:
Just £15 a month can work miracles for a CHH, allowing each child to attend school regularly, eat nutritious food and access medical help.
These pounds – a fiver here, a tenner there – have the power to transform the lives of some our most vulnerable neighbours. At Tearfund we’ve become transfixed by the thought that if the church unites and chooses to live as Jesus taught, we can be a part of a remarkable transformation.
Our aim over the next decade is to work alongside 100,000 local churches to help 50 million people get released from spiritual and material poverty. In the countries where our partners work we want to stop and reverse the spread of AIDS, and it’s people just like you that we want to work with.
Photo: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund