Problem

South Africa is one of the countries worst affected by the AIDS pandemic. Children need not have the disease to become hapless victims. When parents become too ill to work or fend for themselves small children have to act as housekeepers, food providers, child minders and nurses. Once the parents die, the children become orphans and their situation becomes even more desperate as they have to make it alone or care for siblings.

The Gift

The sturdy solar powered, wind-up Lifeline radio you will give will provide children with sustained access to programs which will explain the HIV virus, especially how it affects the body and how it can be contracted; It will tell them about AIDS prevention and treatment and warn them of dangerous for vulnerable children and how to protect oneself from attack and abuse. It will teach them how to select nourishing food and prepare it, how to grow vegetables and care for small livestock. They will learn basic nursing and homecare skills, and how to look after smaller infants that need care and attention. Children gather together to listen to the radio in listening groups that provide a substitute for traditional family and community structures. With stories of their culture, the radio reconnects children with their roots and their ancestry, which become even more important when they have lost their parents.