BHUNYA, Swaziland, Feb 1 (AFP) - Tucked in the valleys of Swaziland, vegetable gardens are growing, tended by some of the tens of thousands of AIDS orphans struggling to survive in this poor southern African kingdom.
Under a blazing sun in this region outside the capital Mbabane, Bonkhe drags a watering can to his plots of cabbage, carrots and green peas and carefully showers the plants before walking back up the steep path to the water wells.
"I am happy because I grow my own food," says the shy six-year-old, one of 71 orphans that have been taken in by families of Kaluhleko, a cluster of huts nestled in the mountains of Bhunya.
The local community, assisted by the UN children's agency UNICEF and Swaziland's children's rights committee, help the orphans grow vegetables to supplement the rations of corn and soya that they receive from the World Food Programme.
More than 65 percent of Swaziland's 1.2 million inhabitants live on less than one dollar a day and some 200,000 people depend on food hand-outs to survive.
The plight of Swaziland's orphans stands in stark contrast to that of King Mswati III, the 36-year-old ruler with a reputation for overspending who has 11 wives and recently purchased a 500,000-dollar (390,000-euro) luxury sedan.
The supervisor of such 85 aid projects in the region, Thoby Dlamini, does not hide her disapproval of the king who is "enjoying" himself when his subjects suffer in extreme poverty.
"Because really, they are suffering," she says.
For the children, most of whom have lost their parents to AIDS or opportunistic diseases such as tuberculosis, the gardens provide a source of healthy food, "without fertilizer or pesticides", she says.
Close to 40 percent of adults are living with HIV and AIDS in Swaziland, the world's highest infection rate, according to UNICEF officials who estimate the number of AIDS orphans at 69,000.
AIDS has taken a particularly heavy toll in the countryside, compounding the food shortages caused by several years of drought in Africa's last absolute monarchy.
"There are more and more abandoned fields," says Jabu Dlamini of Swaziland's action committee for children's rights. "We know it's AIDS, but because of the shame, nobody tells."
UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, last year criticised the monarchy, saying it was "too slow to recognize the threat" from the disease and voiced disapproval over the fact that AIDS orphans were not going to school.
Makeshift classrooms in Swaziland's villages have sprung up to provide some schooling to the orphans as many cannot afford school fees or are afraid to be stigmatized.
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