As the AIDS discourse gathers momentum across the African continent, we find a unique population emerging and gaining numbers. This is the population of those negatively impacted by the AIDS pandemic. Sadly, Africa claims the lion share of this unfortunate group with 13.2 million orphans - children who, before the age of 15 have lost either their mother or both parents to AIDS – which constitute 95% of total AIDS-generated orphans worldwide. This population is comprised of individuals whose parents (one or both) have become, not just victims but casualties of AIDS. By this I mean they have died as a result of HIV/AIDS infection.
As these are lost to death courtesy of AIDS, left behind are a host of individuals whose lives are automatically altered by such an unfortunate development. They include both nuclear and extended family members who have to adjust to accommodate the loss of a family member to AIDS.
Apart from other relatives, there are the children of those demised through AIDS who constitute the nucleus of those we refer to as PABAs or People Affected By AIDS. These, almost always, are children and youths who are very tender in age and are still at the stage of understanding themselves and their surrounding environment.
These suddenly become orphans and must now have to adjust to the harsh realities of life without a parent, without a breadwinner and without the protective social umbrella they have enjoyed all along while their parents were alive. It is due to these that they are referred to as vulnerable children.
Imagine a child who suddenly has to fend for himself because the little resources the family had has been exhausted on the treatment of the now dead parent or guardian. Imagine a little girl who suddenly has to cater to needs of her siblings while she is yet to appreciate her personality and all that goes with it. Imagine a little boy who now has adulthood foisted on him and now has to shirk his youth and assume responsibilities of a man due to the loss of his parents. These images, you will agree with me, do not give one cause for comfort!
Ordinarily, the challenges orphans have to grapple with in our society are overwhelming, but these challenges appreciate in the case of AIDS-generated orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). Wherever they turn, children who have lost a mother or both parents to AIDS face a future even more difficult than that of other orphans. Not only do they find it difficult mixing up with the larger society, they also find it a huge challenge meeting their basic needs. This is consequent upon their being discriminated against by social institutions, work setups, and even ignorant family members who believe they share the plague of AIDS with their dead parents. Stigmatization, no doubt, is a monster that stares orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in the face and trains tears in their eyes.
In Africa as a whole, AIDS is generating orphans so quickly that family structures can no longer cope with the strain. Traditional safety nets are unraveling as more and more young adults die of this disease. Families and communities can barely fend for themselves, let alone take care of orphans and moreso orphans whose parents have depleted the collective resources of the family or community in the quest to salvage their lives.
Life in the Nigeria on a good day is a hard life without basic social amenities, adequate means of livelihood, institutional failure, corruption and a pervading pessimistic outlook on life. Hope has long taken flight and has been replaced in the present with despair in many communities across the country. Thus coping with the additional strain of catering to AIDS orphans, for both individual families and communities, is a Herculean task.
With discrimination and stigmatization at their doorstep, it becomes evident what a harsh life these youths and children orphaned and rendered vulnerable by AIDS must now contend with. It is to say the least a sorry state of affairs these young ones find themselves enmeshed.
These circumstances foisted on this peculiar population having impacted negatively on them place them with very difficult and unpleasant options. For the boys, cultism, hooliganism, violence, armed robbery and other sordid vices suddenly become very attractive. The girls on the other hand, having more constraints to grapple with in their young lives than the boys, somehow either fall for sexual predators, child/women traffickers or go outrightly and deliberately into full-scale and unfettered prostitution or other forms of criminal activities all in the name of survival. However, for those who dare to be different and won’t concede to dissolute conduct, they have to suffer for real or work very hard and be paid a pittance to make ends meet. Not to talk of the discrimination and stigmatization that will attend their attempt at making life go on.
So having heard it all, what is to be done with these unique individuals whose destiny is at the mercy of society. What should be the impact mitigation interventions offerable to them? First, I deem we can form a consensus on the fact that whichever way the lives of these children and youths turn will impact severely on all of us. If they become responsible adults tomorrow the society will benefit. But where they turn out to be criminals and social liabilities everyone of us will have to grapple with what they can do either as armed robbers, street urchins or militants. Consequently, it becomes obvious that we (governments, corporate bodies, civil society organizations (CSOs) and individuals) are all stakeholders in the circumstances and destiny of AIDS orphans.
There is need for all concerned to take a more than cursory look at the circumstances OVCs find themselves. A lot needs to be done about these children and youths in the area of providing them with social safety nets. More than ever before these young ones need a means of livelihood. Initiating skills acquisition and computer literacy programmes, entrepreneurship and wealth creation initiatives and financing of small and medium scale enterprises can suffice. In the interim, government can avail them of subsidies in the areas of food, medical treatment and housing.
They need a soft landing with respect to their educational aspirations. Corporate bodies, government agencies, philanthropists, foundations, community development committees (CDCs), women groups, and other stakeholders can put together scholarships for these kids in order not to circumvent their educational development.
The society at large needs to be sensitized and given a re-orientation on the negative impact stigmatization can have on OVCs on the short and long term basis. It is also important that these children are not left to live on the streets or be exposed to the dangers of homelessness because no one would offer them a roof over their heads. These young ones can fall prey to ritual murderers, rapists, hoodlums, and other angels of the night. And this needs not be allowed to be. All aspects of our society need to rise to the rescue of these kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment