Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) June 29, 2003
Bonny Schoonakker, Johannesburg
Also called Patricia, the seven-year-old has been in the care of Nazareth House, an Aids and children's charity in Gardens, Cape Town, that houses about 60 HIV-positive orphans.
De Lille says she accepted responsibility for Patricia about 10 months ago after the youngster and five others were moved to a house in Observatory, Cape Town, that had been donated to Nazareth House to be used as the orphanage's "satellite". The children are cared for by two housekeepers and attend a nearby school.
De Lille sees her commitment to Patricia as part of a personal responsibility for fighting HIV/Aids. "There's no way we can leave it to the government alone," she says. "Everybody has the responsibility to do something."
She says the fight against HIV/Aids is a priority of her party. Members are encouraged "to sponsor at least one baby" and three HIV-positive people are on its executive.
De Lille stresses that her support for little Patricia is not a formal adoption, but a "sponsorship" arranged through Nazareth House, of which she is a trustee.
Over weekends she takes the little girl to the home she shares with her husband and their son in Pinelands, Cape Town. "We just try to give her a sense of normal family life."
She says her involvement with Nazareth House dates back to 1995, when she "adopted" her first HIV-positive orphan, a boy called Deon. He died in 1997.
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