SWAZILAND: AIDS orphans also stigmatised by poverty at school
Twelve-year-old Mfanfikile looked forward to going back to school after nearly a year and a half of absence following the death of his mother. He wanted to look his best, and had found an old beige jacket in a wardrobe. Although several sizes too large, Mfanfikile thought it an improvement on the threadbare shorts and T-shirts he usually wore.
Ref. https://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/I...396cdcee406.htm
If I prayed at night, it would be that one day, as fellow human beings inhabiting this planet, we would be able to take care of children like this one. His spirit is very strong, he wants to learn and obviously studies hard. Yet children will be children and continue to verbally abuse him despite his best efforts to look like them. I applaud this childs strength and hope that he can find it in himself to push through and make something of himself.
On a separate note, the AIDS epidemic world wide has gotten so far out of hand as to be completely unmanagable. His story is not unique, especially in what are considered third world countries, the amount of children left orphaned because of AIDS is astronomical. It is very very sad to see the children suffering so much because of the irresponsibility of the parents. Perhaps one day there will be a cure for AIDS, or maybe people will learn some responsibility in their sex lives so that the cases of AIDS will start to go down as opposed to up. Poorer countries don't have the money to distribute and sell condoms, so the people in this country have to be especially careful. The richer companies could spend their money better in these countries than on war in other countries.
Let me begin by stating that in the new Africa, sex is one of the only thrills you can have and undoutably the cheapest. That is the number one problem. People are so poor they can't afford decent entertainment. This is the typical scenario. A wife works hard to provide for her children while the husband is hopefully at work. After that, the husband,who is tired of his wife, makes out with a prostitute and then when he has sex with his wife, the wife contracts the disease and eventually both die prematurely. This forces the child to survive on his own which is hard enough without school. I am glad the boy wants to go to school. He probably knows it's his only option for success anymore.