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Adapted from www.africanwoman.net
Case 4
Case of the Mabuza orphans, Swaziland
It has not been an easy year for the Mabuza children. For the first time in their lives, they had to fend for themselves. They have also had to endure insults and ridicule from neighbors, including their playmates. A few months ago, one of their huts was broken into and their possessions, which amounted to almost nothing, stolen. Most of all, they have had to witness their parents die, one after the other, an extremely tragic death.
… One of the children, Sabelo, has left home to look for a job at Big Bend, a small sugar-growing town in the country. He is 14 years old and felt he was too old for primary school. His siblings, Doctor in grade three and Ntombifuthi in grade one, are enrolled in Siphoso Primary School, which is about 3 kilometers away from their home. They walk to and from school bare-foot and in school they can easily be identified from the rest - they are without school uniform like the rest of the kids. The two children who are not of primary school going age, have since been thrown out of the local pre-school for non-payment of fees.
… they still have to struggle to get a balanced meal everyday. If no Good Samaritan passes their way soon, Doctor and his sister will have to drop out of school next year.
What are the issues? Deeply entrenched poverty cycle in child-headed households, challenges of stigma and discrimination with regards to HIV and AIDS.
Source: WCO Intervention to Support Orphaned Children in Swaziland
What then do we say?
These are just but a few of the African stories, many more could still be told, in instances even worse. Where then are we going as a continent, for how long shall violence, discrimination and disempowerment of women and the girl-child persist? For how long shall we allow the HIV and AIDS pandemic to ravish our continent and leave our children reeling in cycles of poverty, not going to school, not getting enough food and non-food assistance? What of the thousands across the continent living under inhumane conditions in slums, without access to proper water and sanitation facilities? Surely it won’t take an expert in rocket science to tell that what the MDGs seek to address are definitely the panacea for the African predicament. As a continent we definitely need this roadmap, and the earlier we embrace it the better for everyone. While the developed world has it’s own dimension of accountability to the developing world, especially on MDG 8, it goes without saying that ravaging cycles of poverty exist in the developing world. It is then critical that the governments thereof continue to be held accountable for the attainment of the Goals. Do I then hear someone the MDGs are prescribed on Africa and lack ownership within the continent? Be ye the judge. I rest my case.
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