UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

October 25, 2007

The story of Miss Joyce

The parish of St. James is home to the coastal city of Montego Bay, one of Jamaica’s famous tourist resort areas. It is also the epicentre of the country’s HIV epidemic as it has the highest rate of HIV prevalence in the island. I traveled to Montego Bay to visit with a family that has benefited from a UNICEF supported income generating project.

The project, which is implemented in partnership with a local NGO called Children of Faith, focuses on assisting children in rural and inner-city communities who have been infected or affected by HIV it does so by increasing the income generating skills of their caregivers as well as conducting training in parenting skills and money management. For those children who have suffered the loss of a parent or who have been subjected to the pain of stigma and discrimination, counseling is provided.

In Montego Bay, I met Miss Joyce – a grandmother who has the responsibility of caring for her four grandchildren. Miss Joyce became the main caregiver after her daughter, who was HIV-positive, died. For many years, she struggled to keep the children in school and provide food and clothing for them. As a result, she had to send two of the children to live with their paternal grandmother as she could not afford to keep the family together. With UNICEF’s support, Miss Joyce received assistance to build a chicken coop and start up her chicken farming business with 50 baby chicks.

Today, she has doubled the size of her chicken coop and the number of chickens she rears. All four of her grandchildren attend school regularly and are well provided for. Miss Joyce says that while she still has challenges as the children grow older, she is very happy that her family benefited from this project.

There are many more like Miss Joyce who long for a little help that can enable them to help themselves. Children of Faith and UNICEF have planned to assist 60 families over the next three years. This will ensure a better quality of life for 240 children who have been infected or affected by HIV and AIDS.