The Missing Face of Aids
Nonhlanhla’s story: An orphan in Swaziland gets help from an innovative UNICEF-supported program
Adam Fifield, UNICEF USA
Photos and story used with permission of UNICEF
New York (January 7, 2009) — Each morning, Nonhlanhla Mabundza wakes up at 5:30, builds a fire and makes a pot of porridge to feed the little ones: Takhona, age ten, and Sisekelo, who is five. In the evening, if there is enough food, she will prepare dinner for them. She also helps them with their homework, cares for them when they are sick and reassures them when they are scared.
She is clearly a devoted parent to these children. But she is not their mother. At 18, Nonhlanhla is practically a child herself. Takhona is her younger sister. Sisekelo is her nephew, who was abandoned by his mother, Nonhlanhla’s older sister. The three of them live on their own in a crumbling mud home in a remote part of Swaziland.
Tall and striking, Nonhlanhla has a shy smile and a bearing that is well beyond her years. She has seen more than her share of hardship.
In 2003, her father died after a year of illness. A year later, her mother became sick and Nonhlanhla began to care for her. When she lost her mother in 2005, Nonhlanhla’s world was shattered. She was only fourteen years old.
The teenager is just one of more than 70,000 orphans in Swaziland, an impoverished, drought-wracked country in Southern Africa that has the world’s highest HIV-prevalence rate. Children like Nonhlanhla—who have lost both parents—are often jarringly thrust into the role of parenthood, left to care for their younger siblings alone.
After Nonhlanhla’s mother died, grief and despair consumed her. She didn’t know what to do and, at one point, contemplated suicide.
“But then, I thought of my siblings,” she says. “What would happen to them? Then I just said, “No, let me live for them.’”
Her strength and selflessness are remarkable. Fortunately, this brave young woman has the support of an innovative program that has evolved from UNICEF’s work with communities in Swaziland to nurture and care for orphans and other vulnerable children. Neighborhood Care Points (NCPs) are community-based centers where volunteers provide these children with food, health services, basic education and protection from abuse.
Nonhlanhla, Takhona and Sisekelo live close to the local NCP. In addition to food and health services, they get blankets and clothing. A caregiver from the center regularly visits them to see how they are doing and to offer emotional support.
The NCP also serves as a day care center. Sisekelo often spends the day there with other children his age, participating in recreational activities and receiving informal education—all under adult supervision. This allows Nonhlanhla to attend secondary school, an hour’s walk from their home. Takhona accompanies her big sister; she is enrolled in primary school at the same location.
UNICEF helped the government of Swaziland set up NCPs by providing cooking equipment, recreational kits and educational and hygiene materials. It also furnishes basic health and emergency supplies and has helped develop training materials for volunteers. In addition, UNICEF collaborates with the World Food Program to secure food for the centers. There are at least 625 Neighborhood Care Point centers, which serve 33,000 children throughout Swaziland.
“Without the help of the Neighborhood Care Point, we would be very much suffering,” Nonhlanhla says. “Our lives would be miserable… We are very, very grateful for the help we get from the Neighborhood Care Point.”
Nonhlanhla says her two biggest challenges are getting enough food for everyone and caring for Takhona and Sisekelo when they are sick. “Sometimes I’m confused about what I should do,” she says.
But she betrays not even a hint of self-pity. More than anything, she is hopeful. Her dream is to become a teacher. But first she wants to make sure that she can provide for her sister and nephew—and that they have a future, too.
“I’d like to thank UNICEF for the help they are giving to us,” Nonhlanhla says. “And we want to plead with them to continue giving us help, so that we are able to finish school and stand on our own and make a living. Because without that, we have no future. Right now, all we can do is look forward to the future.”
