Lets not be part of the problem BUT lets be part of the solution

According to UNICEF, due to the AIDS crisis, it is estimated that more than 15 million children worldwide have been orphaned, with approximately 11.6 million of these children in sub-Saharan Africa. In some African countries, children who have been orphaned by AIDS comprise half or more of all orphans nationally, with the governments of these countries offering little or no care for them. Thus, many orphans end up on the street, doing what they can to survive. UNICEF has estimated that by 2015, the number of orphaned children will still be overwhelmingly high. “The increased spiral of adult deaths in so many countries means that the number of children orphaned each day is expanding exponentially. Africa is staggering under the load.“ Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa.

There are many problems faced by orphans when they have a parent or both parents living with HIV, including stigmatisation from the community and/or family members, emotional and/or physical neglect and eventually trauma suffered from the death of their parent(s). Furthermore, children orphaned by AIDS are often not able to receive standard education as they may, for example, miss out on school enrolment, have their schooling interrupted due to lack of funds for school fees, etc.

Without a basic education, children will face more economic and social problems in their adult life. Furthermore, they will miss out on AIDS education in school which is vital. AIDS education in schools is vital because children are in a learning environment where there are more ready to absorb information, including information on the prevention of HIV and how to reduce the risk of infection in the future. Thus, this will lead to reducing the number of orphaned children in Africa in the future.

This is why it is so important to AFR to be a part of providing education to orphans in Africa through the sale of our shirts. AFR has already donated to NOAH orphanage in South Africa. NOAH is an organisation dedicated to helping orphans of HIV/AIDS throughout South Africa. The overwhelmingly high statistics on AIDS orphans in Africa can be reduced....so ‘let’s be a part of the change and educate the children of Africa one shirt at a time’.

By Teurai Chanakira