HA RAPHIRI –
Khoali and Khoalnyane in their home.
© UNICEF 2002 Belmonte
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This is an ordinary day for Khoali, 12. He has walked the 10-kilometres
from school to his home: an empty, single-room house with no running
water or electricity, no mother or father.
Khoali hasn't eaten all day and cooks himself a bowl of plain white
maize meal. He will eat some beans later as they take longer to cook.
The fire helps warm the house for although it is spring now, it gets
cold here even before the sun sets.
Khoali and his twin brother Khoalnyane live alone and have had to fend
for themselves since their father died of AIDS-related tuberculosis in
1998 and their mother died of the same cause last year. Of their three
sisters, one lives in another village working as a household servant;
another works in a factory and helps out when she can; and their
17-year old sister spends her days away from home, somewhere.
The brothers have names, memories and one lone photograph of their
mother. And they are part of a growing category of young people in
Lesotho - children orphaned by AIDS.
UNICEF and the Government of Lesotho are particularly concerned about
children orphaned by HIV/AIDS - and are giving them top priority when
they distribute food. A report UNICEF helped to write last year showed
that three quarters of all orphans (about 143,000) were children
orphaned by AIDS, many belonging to child-headed households like
Khoali's. Khoali and his brother are among the first to have received
their monthly allowance of 50 kilograms of maize, five litres of beans,
fish oil, cooking oil and sugar. It's a welcome and reassuring arrival.
"When my mother died, I thought we'd be in trouble," says Khoali. "I
was worried about finding food, clothes and shoes. My sister helps us.
She works in a factory."
Lesotho is one of the least developed countries in the world. More than
half its 2.2-million people are trapped below the poverty line, living
on less than $1 a day. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is threatening the country
by wiping out parents, teachers and labourers, and leaving Lesotho's
children without parents. In a country where more than half the
population is under the age of 25, the face of HIV/AIDS is getting
younger and younger.
The only picture the twins have of
their mother, holding them when
they were babies.
© UNICEF 2002 Belmonte
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"Even if we could provide a plow and seeds to harvest every bit of
land, we wouldn't be dealing with the real problem," says Kimberly
Gamble-Payne, UNICEF's Representative in Lesotho. "There aren't enough
able-bodied people to do the work. Everywhere around you, you are
dealing with people and families touched, somehow, by HIV/AIDS. There
are the children caring for themselves, in child-headed households.
There are the grandmothers who care for AIDS orphans. And our strategy
on food distribution has to change too. We simply can't assume people
can walk to feeding points to get the supplies they need."
The challenge, she says, is to ensure UNICEF supplies reach the
children who need them. Those still going to school are easier to find
and target. Those who have dropped out to fend for themselves, or to
help their families survive, are harder to reach - children like nine
year old Mpolokeng and her five-year old brother, Bokang.
Mpolokeng and Bokang had been struggling to survive on their own at
home for more than a month until a neighbour brought them to a nearby
hospital. They've been there ever since. Their mother had been trying
to make ends meet, with little luck. She had three children, no job and
been widowed when their father died, apparently due to AIDS.
"The children were in the house on their own," says Maleshoane Seleke,
from the government. "They were starving and it just was not safe for
them to be there alone. Their mother was sent to prison for two years
for stealing. So now the children are here, being treated like any
other in-patient."
"I like it here," says Mpolokeng of her life in Mohale's Hoek District
Hospital. "I like the food. They give me medicine when I get sick." But
she misses two things: her mother and her nine-month old sister, who
are together in prison.
"UNICEF has to make sure the most vulnerable get the immediate help
they need,” says Gamble-Payne, “but we also need to deal with AIDS. We
need to protect children who are left on their own. That means making
sure no one exploits them, or takes their homes away from them. And, we
need to try to make sure children keep going to school - where they are
safer and can continue trying to carve out their future."
For now, Khoali and his twin brother still have that. They both attend
school because their school fees are being paid for by a local
organisation. Khoali is in Grade 4. His favourite subject is English
and he dreams of being a doctor someday.
As the sun begins to set over Ha Raphiri, Khoali and his brother are
getting ready to eat dinner. The day ends very much like it began: with
no father, no mother, and none of their sisters at home.
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