Child Welfare
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child

Many families have been decimated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Many of the deceased are adults who should be in the prime of their lives.

Grandmother and her three grandchildren, whose parents have died.

They have young children and parents to support. Then they die.

The surviving grandparent, usually the grandmmother, who is without any income, finds that she not only has to support herself, but the orphans that have been left behind.

Grandmother has to earn a living, not just for herself, but for the children. She will probably work as a hawker on street corners, or as a worker on a farm, earning Ksh 60 a day (48p UK).

The children cannot go to school because she cannot afford the uniforms, which are obligatory.

She has to pay rent on the hut they live in. They have no land on which to grow crops or raise chickens.

She cannot afford to buy the children clothes (contrary to popular belief, most kids in Kenya, except in the far north, do not run around naked).

Bedroom of the children

Kenyan kids like to wear clothes. They like to wear shoes. They want to go to school. They know that education is the most important thing in their lives, next to their health.

But these kids don't have clothes, or shoes, and they will not receive an education. If they fall sick, they will probably die.