Plan helps grandparents care for AIDS orphans

Families struggle with the impact of HIV/AIDS

If it weren’t for her grandmother, Matilda, an 11-year-old girl from Malawi, would be destitute, homeless and always hungry.

Matilda lost both her parents when she was eight years old and now lives with her frail grandmother. But living in a community whose adult population is inflicted by AIDS, her grandmother has been left with a lot of grandchildren to care for – there are at least six children living in her small hut and all need to be fed and clothed.

The struggle to survive for both is a fairly overwhelming everyday challenge. The family have had to sacrifice school and medicine to survive, Maltilda carries water from the well, pounds maize, washes plates, and helps in the garden to grow food. When a family group is under this much pressure the prospects of escaping poverty are likely to be closed forever.

Fortunately, Plan is working with Matilda's community and together have formed a programme to help extended families cope with the impact of HIV/AIDS, which has already infected more than 29 million people in Africa, left 20 million dead, and 12 million children orphaned.

“A key step is to make sure that vulnerable families have enough to eat, not through hand-outs, but through livelihood improvements that provide income generating training and resources such as for home vegetable gardens,” says Marie Staunton, Plan UK Chief Executive.