Africa shifts to 'whole village' approach for orphans
Orphanages in southern Africa are closing in favor of efforts to reintegrate children into communities.
from the March 1, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Mozambique is at the center of this crisis. With a population of almost 19 million people, UNICEF estimates that there are some 1.6 million orphans, and estimates the number orphaned by AIDS – now at 380,000 – will double within five years. Meanwhile, the HIV infection rate here is growing. In 1998, 8 percent of the country's adults were infected with the HIV virus, says Mr. Delvigne-Jean. Today, the infection rate is at 16.2 percent. Here in Beira the infection rates are some of the highest in the country – close to 30 percent of adults in the city are HIV-positive.
The only true way to manage the swell of vulnerable children is to prevent more parents from dying, say aid workers and experts. But in the meantime, groups trying to help have almost universally shifted to community-based care.
In Mozambique, there are hundreds of local aid groups who try to offer support to different neighborhoods, hoping that improved living conditions will make distant relatives and acquaintances more willing to take in orphaned children.
The government has also upped its monetary support to families caring for orphans. Few organizations are building orphanages, and many aid workers here now refer to the word "institution" with disdain.
Barbara Hofmann knows all about this shift. A former financier from Italy, Ms. Hofmann started ASEM as a soup kitchen in 1991 – her own personal response to the flood of orphaned and abandoned children coming to Beira in the waning days of the war. During the 1990s, the organization grew to include orphanages, schools, and community centers.
But after years of trying to make more space for orphans, she says, now she and her staff are working to move youths out of their centers. Of the 400 or so orphans they housed a few years ago, barely 100 remain, and Hofmann expects that number to drop further.
"The government and UNICEF don't like children in institutions anymore," she explains. "They want to have children in communities."
In ASEM's headquarters, in a faded concrete building on a dingy street in downtown Beira, Jorge Tarquino works to do just this. He manages the ASEM office here, and sits in front of bookshelves full of binders, which are all overflowing with documents related to orphans they are trying to reintegrate into communities. Each page gives a name, an age, and a few details about the child.
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