Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday 01 December 2002
Mawande Jubasi

Their father, Lion, died of an Aids-related illness two weeks after their mother, Philile, succumbed to the virus.

The children, from Ingwavuma, could not afford to pay the R79-a-day fee the mortuary charged for storing the body so they had to bury him in their yard.

Vusi, like scores of other Aids orphans in the area, will now be the head of the household.

The plight of Aids orphans who have been living without foster-care grants has worsened. Not only are the orphans not receiving grants because of government red tape but their numbers have swelled from fewer than 1 000 last year to more than 2 000 now.

The children in the villages of Ingwavuma cannot apply for foster-care grants because the Department of Home Affairs has no offices in the area.

The local magistrate's court takes months to process birth and death certificates and the Department of Welfare takes even longer to approve grants.

This week, the head of the Ingwavuma Orphans Care Project, Dr Anne Barnard, said the situation was becoming more desperate by the day as growing numbers of orphans were identified.

Since the project began in 2000, it had been able to register only 211 orphans for foster grants because of bureaucratic delays in registering the children by the departments of Welfare and Home Affairs.

She said the project had identified more than 2 000 orphans but it was able to help fewer than 40 a month by sending them food parcels and clothing and paying their school fees. " We only prioritise children who head households. The rest have nothing. It is heartbreaking."

Barnard said the project was also being overwhelmed by children whose parents were bedridden with Aids-related illnesses.

"These children are actually worse off. Not only do they have to fend for themselves, but they must also take care of their bed-ridden and dying parents."

Samson Ngidi, the mortuary administrator at Mosvold Hospital, said the hospital received an average of six bodies a day from Ingwavuma, which has a population of about 110 000.

"Just last week, we had 43 bodies in the mortuary and could accommodate only 25. With maybe 35 bodies coming here every day, the situation is bad ," he said.

Not all families can afford to take their dead to the mortuary.

Fourteen-year-old Siphephile (Zulu for "we are safe" ) Mafuleka, a shy Grade 7 girl, graduated from being a full-time nurse to her sickly parents to being a full-time parent to her five siblings .

Their father, Eric, died at the end of last month and their mother, Thobeka, died last week.

Local councillor Busakahle Thabethe and chief Samson Mathenjwa sympathise but say they have a worse problem in the young Mathebula family across the hill.

At 18, a tough-looking Dumisane Mathebula has been left to head a family of five after they buried their mother at the end of October and their uncle evicted them from their family land, claiming it as his own.

The only buffer separating the orphans in Ingwavuma from death from starvation and malnutrition is the Ingwavuma Orphans Care Project.

Barnard, who moved to South Africa from Britain, said that in 1999 it became clear that a crisis was brewing as large numbers of adults died from Aids.

"I was working in the paediatric ward and I realised how most of the children admitted had no hope of surviving because they were suffering from malnutrition. We discovered most were orphans with no one to look after them, and launched the project to help," she said.

"We had more than 1 000 orphans registered with the project in February 2000. Now we have more than 2 000."

The project has employed three local youths as field coordinators to identify orphans and provide the most desperate with food, clothes and school fees, as well as help processing their grant applications.

021201
ST021207

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2002. 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, 2002. 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. .