Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
 |
New Vision (Kampala) - September 9, 2003
Joan Mugenzi
IT is a case of the vulnerable looking after the vulnerable. In the face of HIV/AIDS, we have seen the number of orphans soar. Today, statistics show that Uganda has two million orphans.
In the absence of the parents, the role of parenting has shifted to the grandparents especially where there are no energetic people to do it.
One such community, where there are quite a number of grandparents playing the parenting role, is Kyanja in Wakiso district.
At 62-year-old Aisha Najjuuko's place, two children in dirty T-shirts sit by each other's side in a spacious compound. They have dirty tins that they are playing with. Najjuuko is tucked away in a small kitchen.
These little boys who are about to make two years, pass for 10-month old babies yet even in this shape, they are said to be much better.
These twins are Najjuuko's grandchildren. She looks on desperately as I interview her. Her house is in a sorry state, with part of the wall actually razed down.
Najjuuko started looking after her grandchildren when her daughter became ill.
Her daughter has AIDS. She brought the children to her so she could "go and look for money." They were six months old then.
"She rarely comes by. In her state, I think she cannot even strain to work," says Najjuuko.
Najjuuko has no garden because the land she used to use for her farming activities was sold! She therefore has to struggle looking for handouts to be able to look after the children.
Her case is a representation of the problem facing the old people in Kyanja. Grace Kamoga, the assistant childcare in Kyanja, says that many of the old people there do not have land. Sustaining themselves is a problem in itself, yet these are the people looking after the vulnerable children.
Many had their grandchildren malnourished until Action For Children (AFC), an NGO, came in to lend a hand.
The NGO's mission is to rescue children from immediate danger and give them an opportunity to develop purposefully. They started a programme called the Grandmothers' Action Support (GAS).
"The whole idea is to support grandmothers who are caring for children under eight years of age, who are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS," says Jolly Nyeko, AFC's chairperson.
The idea of GAS falls under the concept of Early Childhood Development.
The other idea is to promote or enhance the capacity of the grandparents who are frail and weak so as to enhance their capacity to look after the children.
Najjuuko is one of the beneficiaries. Those who saw the children at the time of AFC's intervention say the children were malnourished. They had Kwashiorkor.
When AFC took her up in their programme, they provided her with food supplements and she was one of those they trained on issues of child development.
Altogether, there are 30 grandparents on the GAS programme. The oldest of them is aged 82, whilst the majority are above 60.
Nyeko says they identified the problem of parenting grandparents while running the family preservation project with 110 families. Within this project, they do counseling, handle child rights, health and hygiene and micro-credit programmes.
"Of the 110, we realised that there were families headed by grandparents, who were also vulnerable," says Nyeko.
"We got a donor, Bernard Van Leer Foundation (BVLF), who was interested in Early Childhood Development. The donor was interested in looking at how the grandparents are looking after the young ones. This is how we started the programme in January," she says.
AFC is now teaching the grandparents early childhood concepts. "All their children have died or have long left the homes. Can they remember all the child-rearing activities? We look at issues of child rearing and child raising, and teach the grandparents accordingly," says Nyeko.
Nakandi Mayega, also 62, looks after seven grandchildren, three of who are below five. The oldest is 10. She is happy about the GAS project.
"My biggest challenge was feeding. The children looked miserable, but now, I know how to cater for them on a balanced diet. In our nutrition lessons, we learnt how to plan meals according to the different time. The children look much better," she says.
At 82, Zachariah and his wife Cotilda, 65, are struggling to look after two grandchildren and one great grandchild. They live in one room and all they have for their income is a small stone-crushing business.
"We are in poverty. The only beddings I have are the ones that Action gave me for the children. They also supported us with other household items like saucepans, plates and cups," Zachariah says.
These old people meet on a weekly basis. In these meetings, they encourage one another.
AFC has identified zonal leaders in each of the zones in Kyanja parish and each of these leaders meets with the grandparents in his or her zone. It is the zone leaders that report back to AFC, what the challenges of the old people are.
The grandparents are now planning on a day care centre where they can take the grandchildren. They have identified land and they would like AFC to help them put up a nursery school.
In their intervention, AFC has always had to help extend medical help to the 95 children that live with the old people.
Last month, the community gave them a small structure so they could run a clinic there. They also have another a donor, Fay DeAvignon, who is providing medicines for the Angels of Hope clinic.
Kamoga says that since the GAS programme started, there is great change especially on health, feeding and even the capacity to look after the children in the community.
030909
NV030904
Copyright © 2003 - The New Vision. All articles are republished on AEGIS by permission. Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location, published or used for broadcast without written authorization from Managing Director/Editor-in-chief, The New Vision, P.O. Box 9815, Kampala - Uganda, Tel/fax: 256-41-235221, E-mail: wpike@newvision.co.ug.
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, iMetrikus, Inc., John M. Lloyd Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2003. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .