Basic Needs of Food, Shelter and Protection Are Unmet:

• Orphans and vulnerable children run a greater risk of being malnourished than children who have healthy parents to care for them. Some of the children in Goromonzi have been known to eat grass when there is no other food.

• Traditionally, upon the death of a man, all his property will go to his brothers and their families, not to his wives and his children. This can lead to homelessness for his grieving family. In some cases the boys are turned out of their birth home to fend for themselves. More often the girls are taken in by their extended families, but are often used as household drudges or for prostitution. In both cases, they are denied the chance to be educated.

• As their parents become increasingly ill and are no longer able to work and care for their family, the children must take on the adult responsibility of caregivers. They are forced to become self-sufficient long before they are able to succeed at it.

• With adults dying prematurely, children are forced into early adulthood without the resources and guidance they need to survive. They then have to adjust to that crisis, with little or no support, and may suffer exploitation and abuse. Anxiety, depression and anger have been found to be more common among orphans than other children.

Family and Community Are Strained to the Breaking Point:

• In traditional communities in Zimbabwe, extended family members care for orphaned children. Culturally, adoption from outside the family is not acceptable. The family unit becomes strained to the breaking point as grandparents and older relatives struggle to support as many as twenty of their young orphaned family members. In some cases older relatives are so desperate to take care of the children that they put the children on a bus to the capital city of Harare in the hopes that they will find food or someone to care for them there.

• In large, female-headed households where orphans and vulnerable children are likely to live, there are more people dependent on fewer wage earners. Extra pressure is placed on the orphans and vulnerable children to contribute financially to the household, and with few options available, in some cases they take to the streets to work, beg or seek food. It is not uncommon for the older sister in the family to find herself an older “boyfriend” so that she can get money to support her younger brothers and sisters.

• Children who have lost one parent continue to live in the care of a surviving parent or family member, but often have to take on the responsibility of doing the housework, looking after siblings and caring for the sick or dying parent. Children who have lost one parent to AIDS are often at risk of losing the other parent as well, since HIV can be transmitted within the couple.

• Some people have called for an increase in institutional care for children. However, this solution is not only expensive, but it also has been found to be detrimental to the children and should be considered a temporary option or a last resort.

Birthright for Bright Future Is Lost:

• Children grieving for dying or dead parents are often stigmatized by society through their association with AIDS. The distress and social isolation experienced by these children, both before and after the death of their parent(s), is strongly exacerbated by the shame, fear, and rejection that often surrounds people affected by HIV and AIDS.

• Children orphaned by AIDS may loose the opportunity for education, a critical part of building a future, when extended families cannot afford to educate all the children of the household. Often, the child's labor and income-generating potential are required in the household. All schools require tuition fees in Zimbabwe. For some families, the additional burden of school fees is a major factor in deciding not to take in additional children.

• Children may also have their schooling interrupted, or halted altogether, or perform poorly in school as a result of their situation. Orphans and vulnerable children may also leave school to attend to ill family members, to work or to look after young siblings.

• Children miss out on valuable life-skills and practical knowledge that would have been passed on to them by their parents had they not been ill or deceased. Without this knowledge, and a basic education, children are more likely to face social, economic and health problems in adulthood.