Stop. Think for a minute. Can you even begin to get your head around what life must be like for any one of the millions of children who have been orphaned by AIDS? Here’s your chance to find out.
Imagine this: Your name is Tendai, you are 15 and you live in Africa. Both your parents have died from AIDS-related illnesses and you have been left to look after your four younger siblings. Together you must decide what to eat, how to earn money, whether to go to school and how to stay safe. You must deal with the fear of illness that hangs over the family and be alert for the many dangers that threaten you all. Every day you face choices that will have an impact on the rest of your life. Who can you turn to for support?
As if all this responsibility and grief wasn’t enough, your two sisters are getting sicker – one is malnourished and the other has HIV. Do you spend what extra money you have on getting one of them to a health clinic or on buying more food? Either way, one of them will get worse.
Take part in The No Slumber Challenge and this could be you. From Friday night to Saturday lunchtime you will have to think, act and make the kind of choices that Tendai faces all the time. You will get some sleep, but you’ll wake up to what life is like for millions of children around the world who have been left orphaned by AIDS.
There’s more to it too: you won’t just find out about the hardship – you’ll have your eyes opened to the courage and resourcefulness that so many of these children possess. And you’ll find out how Tearfund partners are stepping in and transforming the lives of children just like Tendai, as well as what you can do to help them.