"Who feels
the overall impact of HIV most? Surely it is the children;
the children who are HIV positive and die before they
reach their 5th birthday; the children who must care for
sick and dying parents; the children who must cope with
the tragedy of parental death; the children who must struggle
to survive in an adult world that more likely than not
will discriminate against them in all sorts of ways because
they have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS … we need to
change our mindsets and see HIV/AIDS not as an adult problem
but as a children's problem"
Graca Michel (CINDI Conference, 1998) |
- South Africa faces the daunting
task of managing the impact of the AIDS pandemic for
the next 30 to 40 years.
- The only way to cope with the
growing numbers of children infected, orphaned and
made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS is to establish and develop
effective, accessible, sustainable, self-help community-based
programmes.
- It is equally critical that
these programmes develop community capacity to support
families living with HIV/AIDS, parents and caregivers
who are HIV positive, and those families caring for
vulnerable children.
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- Given the overwhelming
numbers of children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS,
traditional first world models of care such as adoption,
institutional and foster care, under the supervision
of social workers, are no longer sufficient.
- Nor do they provide significant
support for the families or communities within which
children live.
- The HIV/AIDS project's
purpose is to provide a multi-focused solution:
- Strengthening families
and communities to protect, care for, and develop
all vulnerable children, especially those infected
and affected by HIV/AIDS.
- Keeping children in their
family and communities of origin, whenever possible.
- Caring for orphaned children
who have experienced suffering and loss, addressing
their physical and psychological needs and protecting
them from exploitation, neglect and abuse.
- Establishing, developing
and maintaining household and community resources
(safety nets) to support vulnerable families and their
children and to provide placement and protection services
for children.
- Assisting families and
communities to assess their needs and to develop strategies
of response by identifying their strengths and resources
at their disposal in order to maximize their capacity
and ability to care for vulnerable children.
- Mobilising community support
for those families caring for infected and orphaned
children and parents or caregivers who are HIV positive.
- Providing poverty relief
in the form of job skills development and income generating
programmes including baking, juice making, gardening
and brick making to boost household income.
- Providing educare facilities
for those attending skills development and income
generating programmes (These programmes will be used
to provide daytime respite care, after school care,
and to train volunteers to run educare programmes
in their homes).
- Providing psycho-social
support and counseling services.
- Teaching communities parenting,
child protection, counselling and supervision skills.
- Encouraging the replication
of this community-based model of care and support
in other area.
- Assisting local, provincial
and national policy and programme development by providing
information and guidance, and sharing expertise.
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Since the project obtained full-time status, it has grown
along with demand to include the following:
THE PROJECT PROVIDES
- A support group for HIV/AIDS mothers. These women
are mostly single mothers who have been abandoned
by their partners as a result of their status
- Women Empowerment Workshops to dispel the myth
and legend that surrounds the HIV/AIDS virus and to
empower them with the knowledge and strength when
dealing with life and members of the community, their
families and employers
- Support Group for HIV Positive Mothers and Fathers
which is held once a week on a Wednesday
- Care-Givers Support Group is primarily for Grandmothers
and other older extended family members who are caring
for AIDS orphans after their mothers die. The purpose
of
which is to bring them up to date with parenting in
today’s world and providing them with the relevant
tools
- Children’s Groups which include:
- 1. Bereaved Group for children whose parents
have died as a result of HIV/AIDS
- 2. Behaviour Modification which teaches children
how to deal with the negative reaction of stress,
despair, depression, anger etc associates with
the death of a parent as a result of HIV/AIDS
- 3. Peer Support Group which involves children
working with children around the issues of sexuality,
sustenance abuse, HIV/AIDS
JOB SKILLS TRAINING
Families are taught:
- Parenting, child protection and supervision (of
children and caregivers) skills
- Income generating skills:
- Baking
- Juice making
- Food Gardening
- Crocheting items for sale using plastic bags,
such as hats, balls and carrier bags to boost
household income
- Running educare programmes in their homes, in
collaboration with other families nearby
A brief outline includes:
FOOD GARDENING:
In consultation with the Food Foundation, we provide the
participant with the knowledge to establish and grow a
water-wise garden; growing vegetables. These vegetables
are not only to feed their families, but also act as an
income-generating tool, as the gardener can sell the excess
product to members of their own community and to the numerous
informal shops (spazas) that exist within the communities.
BAKING:
Provides job skill that will render the participant as
employable in bakeries as well as providing an income
which can be generated from the sale of product which
the participant can manufacture from their own homes.
A number of participants continue baking at the Cape Town
Child Welfare training premises after completion of their
course with the proceeds of the sale of their product
being split with 10% to Cape Town Child Welfare for the
use of ingredients and electricity and 90% to the baker.
EDUCARE (Crèche):
A unique course offered to a limited number of participants,
that addresses the care of young children whose parents
are seeking employment. This course teaches Home Based
Educare which includes early childhood development, social
skills, basic reading and writing. The participant is
taught basic childcare, first aid and the fundamentals
of caring for and nurturing children. Once qualified,
the educarer is suitably equipped to establish a crèche
within her home, charging a nominal fee to parents (this
fee provides a meal for the child and a liveable income
for the teacher). Most of these educare centres are established
in informal settlements where the greatest need exists.
The crèche’s are creative, warm and loving
places that often become the centre of the child’s
world, where a warm meal is always available.
VOLUNTEERS:
To date, 64 volunteers have been trained with 40 being
accredited to remove children in volatile and dangerous
situations. Thirty accredited volunteers are still involved
in the project.
Community volunteers are trained and supported to:
- Investigate child abuse, abandonment and neglect
- Provide effective child care, child protection and
placement services
- Supervise the care of children places in formal/informal
foster care in the community
- Render comprehensive family support services
- Provide enabling psycho-social support and counselling
services
- Operate as trainers within the community
Tasks of Volunteers
- To run an intake service than can respond to crisis
within 24 hours of referral than includes: infant
abandonment, physical and sexual abuse, serious neglect,
unsupervised children at risk. This may involve a
removal and placement.
- To manage a caseload which may include any of the
following:
- 1. Working with children who are infected and
affected by HIV/AIDS
- 2. Assisting families to develop strategies
to cope in an economically hostile environment
- 3. Investigating Committal for Maintenance requests
- 4. Assisting families to access the child support
grant
- 5. Tracing family members
- 6. Running safe homes
- 7. Sourcing potential foster parents
- 8. Supervising foster parents (formal and informal)
- 9. Monitoring at risk children and assisting
the caregiver to parent more adequately
- 10. Supervising child-headed households
- 11. Monitoring children’s well being through
contact with the caregiver, the school and the
child
- 12. Offering support to stressed parents or
caregivers
- 13. Community talks around children’s
issues
Considering that this project followed a new direction
for Cape Town Child Welfare, its success can only be attributed
to two things:
- 14. The absolute dedication from the team working
in the Thembalabantwana Project
- 15. The obvious need for a project such as this
within the Guguletu community
With regard to HIV/AIDS, we have a policy in South Africa
of non-disclosure. This makes obtaining comprehensive
figures very difficult. As far as we know, the greater
percentage of our children and referrals are infected
or affected by HIV/AIDS
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