In Chad, AIDS leaves families without parents
Jed Payne His body is weak and in pain but he can still share a smile with others. His age and his name are unknown, though he can speak. Until today the abandoned boy has gone unknown to any of the village elders. The orphans who discovered him have named him "Perdu," which in French means "lost." They surround him protectively, draping arms over his shoulder and swatting away flies from his face. They know what it is to be abandoned and have adopted him as one of their own, providing whatever food they can spare. But it is not enough. "The first thing we must do is give him a proper name," says Levy Madjibe, West Africa representative for MCC. According to Levy the boy was most likely abandoned by his mother, too weak from AIDS to take care of him any longer and ashamed to ask for help. It is a common story, and children taking care of children is no longer an uncommon sight in this country of 9 million where the AIDS rate has nearly doubled in the last two years, climbing to an estimated 8 percent. One of the many cascading problems resulting from the epidemic is the growing number of AIDS orphans. In N'djamena, the capital, local MCC partners are flooded with requests from orphans and family members for aid. Not all can be helped and families are often turned away or separated. "The rest are for God to take care of," says an orphan coordinator at Centre d'Education a la Vie Familiale, an MCC partner in N'djamena. "Someday we will take care of all the orphans," she adds hopefully. The orphans that are received are found homes and supplied with sacks of cereal as well as clothing and tuition for school. The problem of AIDS orphans is not limited to the city and extends throughout the countryside. Those who would help orphans have difficulty finding them due to the remote geography and limited road access to many village populations. In addition, AIDS remains a taboo subject in most rural areas. Many AIDS victims are reluctant or unable to make arrangements for their children due to local prejudice and discrimination. The best way to locate new orphans is often through other orphans. In many families where subsistence farming is a way of life, the oldest brother or sister simply becomes the head of the household after the parents die. In Pala, Sahba, 19, and his sister Gapnonta, 16, are taking care of two younger siblings after losing their parents to AIDS. Gapnonta attends school in the morning and tends fields in the afternoon. Her own childhood is over, but she does her best to ensure her siblings are provided for and able to smile once in a while. An MCC partner, the Ethics, Peace, and Justice Department (EPJ) of the national Protestant Council of Churches, has enlisted local churches to support orphans. Pastor Yasa, the Director of EPJ, hopes that the churches will take a more active role in caring for the orphans. He invokes several passages from Deuteronomy regarding the churches responsibility to care for orphans while discussing the problem. "This is the churches' work," he says. "Pastors must set the example." Yasa repeats this message to pastors and church committee members in rural villages. Some walk long distances to listen to his testimony. Yasa explains that even small donations like one cup of millet per week from church members can help an orphan significantly. Church leaders say they are eager to organize their congregations to aid orphans in their communities. "Right now we are crawling," says one pastor. "But soon we will walk." As AIDS spreads, Perdu and many other orphans are relying on whatever help their communities can provide. Levy Madjibe says, "That boy may very well be Jesus Christ walking among us today, curious to see our response."
|
|
|
