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Future For
AIDS Orphans
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December 1 is World AIDS Day. Around the world, more than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The number of orphans grows daily and the pandemic is leaving young children, as young as seven, alone to care for their younger siblings. As Reed Galin reports, a program in Africa is providing more than hope to families who have lost so much. |
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SCRIPT:
(Locator: Zimbabwe, Africa)
Lineah Mazambuka (Ly-na mah-zambuka) was barely 7 when she lost her
parents to AIDS. Chido Gowero (Cheedo guh-wero) was 9. Both girls were
immediately expected to support their families.
Chido Gowero/AIDS Orphan: “To me, it is very difficult because I have to
change my mind to be a mother, not to be a child.”
In Zimbabwe, Africa, the AIDS pandemic has left more than 1.6 million
children without parents.
Margaret Tagwira/Mushroom Project: “By the time one parent dies, another
is already ill. From that point, that house is being headed by a child.”
Margaret Tagwira (tahg-wira) used her expertise as a lab technician to
create the Mushroom Project. From her base at the United
Methodist-supported Africa University, she clones the mushrooms and
teaches orphans like Lineah and Chido how to grow their own as sources
of food and income.
Chido Gowero/AIDS Orphan: “We started raking in the mushrooms in the
Mushroom Project and then getting money.”
Lineah Mazambuka/AIDS Orphan: “It changed everything in my life.”
The girls can make as much as 1,000 Zim dollars a day through selling
the mushrooms. That’s about 4 U.S. dollars. The money she earns allows
Lineah to return to her village with enough food to keep her family from
starving.
Margaret Tagwira/Mushroom Project: “I really don’t see much sense in an
African scientist trying to find out if the moon is round or square when
there is no food on the tables of Africans.”
TAG:
Margaret Tagwira and other graduates of Africa University are using
their education to provide long term solutions for AIDS orphans in
Africa.
For more information on programs,
click here. And for details on how to make a donation, go to
The Advance.