UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

December 1, 2007

Abandoned 17 month old twins: One HIV-positive, the other HIV-negative

While I was working in the town of Nhlangano in southern Swaziland in November, an alarm was raised by a neighbour who said two children were locked up by their father and step-mother who had gone to work. It was a very cold and rainy day when we approached the single dilapidated room which did not look suitable for human habitation. We were welcomed by cries of children who were calling out for their mother. When we finally opened the door, we found twins who were about one year old and looked frail and very dirty. They were obviously very hungry. We cleaned them up and gave them food. When the father Dumsani Siyaya returned from work, I learnt that the toddlers’ names were Samke (boy) and Sanelisiwe (girl) and they were 17 months old. This is how Siyaya related their story:

On the 12th of September 2007 the children lost their mother who had tuberculosis. The mother lived with her step-mother a few kilometers from Nhlangano Town. She had six other children who were also left with the relatives. Siyaya explained that after the death of the children’s mother, a relative of the mother brought the twins to him at work and left them there, telling him to look after them since the mother had died. Siyaya did not agree and took the twins back to the same relatives the following day.

On the 26th of September, the relatives returned and abandoned the children at the doorstep of Siyaya’s one room flat. Police were called to the scene and the relatives maintained that he should take them in and support them financially. They said the other six children were taken to their biological fathers after the mother was buried and the twins were no exception. Siyaya is married to another woman who is not willing to take care of these children. She locks them inside the house until their father comes from work to feed them and wash them. Siyaya finds temporary work and is not looking healthy himself.

Steps taken

The father received assistance with finding relatives on his side of the family to take care of the children. He also went with the twins to a health centre. Seeing that one of the twins had a low birth weight, health workers advised him to test for HIV. He found out that day that he was HIV-positive, him, as well as one of the twins.

Along with health workers, I am presently working with the relatives who look after the twins, helping them understand how to take care of the children. For instance, the HIV-positive twin will soon have to be seen by a medical staff to determine whether he can start treatment with anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. I have a case of one child who started ARVs at the age of 18 months and is now 3 years old. Time and again, children can survive once they start the treatment, even very early on in their lives.

The twin’s case is one of many in Swaziland where orphans from one or both parents represent more than 70 000 children in a population of barely one million. Funerals have become part of the landscape on weekends as many a parent dies in this country marred by the HIV pandemic. When a parent dies, children are typically left to be cared for by relatives who are also struggling to make ends meet; especially here, where 69% of the population lives below the poverty line. UNICEF is already working with communities to take care of these children in neighbourhood care points where children receive at least one meal a day. UNICEF would like to go one step further and train the orphans’ caregivers, teaching them how to take care of HIV-positive children. Families are not prepared when a child is found HIV-positive. When the use of ARVs becomes an option, they need to know the value of sustaining the life of this child. If more resources were available, UNICEF could help family caregivers take care of these children instead of abandoning them. I personally look forward to that day. In the meantime, I will follow up with the twins until I am sure they get all the care they need and deserve.