“The sisters are like our parents. I love this place and am very happy here. I want to stay, but soon I will be ready to go because I will be done with class five.”

Nelson*, 13, lost both his parents and a sister to HIV-related illness. After the death of his parents, Nelson and his siblings were sent to live with relatives. Severe financial constraints forced all the children to drop out of school; however, after his younger sister succumbed to AIDS, child welfare finally intervened. When they discovered that he too was HIV-positive, Nelson was referred to Carmel Jyoti Care Centre and enrolled in the Breeze Course School, a part of Catholic Relief Services Project LIFE AID, which helps vulnerable children catch up on schoolwork they may have missed.

Sister Regina explained, “Carmel Jyoti cares for HIV-infected and -affected children. Almost every child you see here is an orphan. The Breeze Course School, staffed by nuns, operates on a five-class system that takes the young students two to three years to complete. The aim is not only to equip these children academically, but also socially, for reintegration into regular schools by the time they complete their final exams at the end of class five. Upon completion of the Breeze Course, the children return to their relatives, ready to continue their schooling in the local community.”
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Rehema Salimu was having a hard time making ends meet before she started receiving help in August 2008 from the CRS-supported Anglican Muheza Hospice Care. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

“God bless you for this help,” Rehema Salimu says over and over again, clasping her hands beneath an enormous smile.

With a spirit as lively as the bright-yellow head scarf framing her face, Rehema is a widowed mother of two 11-year-old twin boys, Kurwa and Dotto Kimwaga. Since August 2008, Rehema has been receiving antiretroviral medications for herself and help for her twins from the Anglican Muheza Hospice Care.

A local CRS partner on Tanzania’s northern coast, Muheza Hospice Care offers HIV care and treatment services as well as support for orphans and vulnerable children through funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This assistance has taken a huge burden off Rehema’s shoulders.
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In April 2009, 45 caretakers of orphans and vulnerable children graduated from a two-week program in food processing, sponsored by CRS’ partner the Catholic Diocese of Tanga and funded by an PEPFAR project. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

When the women break into song as we enter the room, it’s not just a welcoming greeting. It’s a song of thanks for the help they are receiving starting small businesses.

Up in Tanga, on Tanzania’s northern coast, scores of children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, leaving them to face enormous challenges:

• When one parent dies, the other is left as the sole earner and is rarely able to cover the family’s food and schooling expenses.

• When both parents die, the children are often taken in by relatives whose resources are already stretched exceedingly thin to support their own families.

• When no relatives are available or willing to assist, the eldest orphan can end up caring for his or her younger siblings, becoming the head of their household even when as young as 14—and likely dropping out of school to do so.

Catholic Relief Services through funding through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is helping to support thousands of orphans across Africa. A key aspect of supporting these children is helping their caregivers earn a better living.
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The four Jackson children lost their parents, likely to AIDS, six years ago. Evelin, at left, has cared for her two sisters and 9-year-old brother since she was 18. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

Until I moved to Africa, I had no understanding of how HIV is destroying families. Now I see the damage on just about every visit I make to the field.

Last week in Tanzania, I met multiple families with children who had lost one or both parents to AIDS. These children are left to face issues I can barely imagine confronting as an adult:

- Deep grief over the loss of one or both parents
- Appreciation for relatives who take them in but also guilt and possible abuse for increasing their caregivers’ hardship
- Hunger, likely every day, as caregivers simply can’t earn enough to feed the larger household
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Lane Hartill, CRS regional information officer for West Africa, sends this report from Cameroon.

There’s a frank conversation going on in a mud house in eastern Cameroon.

A handful of orphans live here, and they are raising themselves. There is an older sister who’s 21, but she’s rarely home and, from what I can gather, isn’t much of a mother. She comes home only at night and brings along a man. He’s new, says her 16 year-old sister, Edwige. She’s been seeing him since her first husband died.
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CRS regional information officer for the Europe and the Middle East was in Moldova recently and sent back photos of children she met at a daycare center. A brief report follows the pictures in this post.

Moldovan children at a daycare center run by Sister Maria Tolledo. Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries and people there are vulnerable to being trafficked to other countries. When children are trafficked, they are often forced to beg.
Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

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CRS regional information officer for the Europe and the Middle East was in Moldova recently and sent back photos of children she met at a daycare center. A brief report follows the pictures.

Moldovan children at a daycare center run by Sister Maria Tolledo, a religious of the Order of St. John the Baptist. Some of the 34 children who go to the daycare center each day have little to eat at home. The nuns feed them several meals every day. Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

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