African AIDS Orphans' Lives Focus on Basic SurvivalDate: December 20, 2002 
The will to survive is the thread that weaves together the lives of the 968 children of the Nheweyembwa Orphan Trust. The 3-year-old trust was established to "help alleviate the pathetic situations some of the children were living in," says the Rev. Stanley Kaseke. He is the pastor in charge of the Dandara area of the United Methodist Church's Murewa District, which co-operates the orphan trust.
"Children were sick and had no one to care for them," he explains. "There were households throughout the township headed by children who were looking out for their siblings the best way they knew how. The children, especially those orphaned because their parents died of AIDS, needed to be fed, school fees paid and part of their medical bills met."
During a United Methodist News Service visit, the children of the trust perform a variety of skits and songs that give a realistic and poignant look into their daily lives. They sing about death and the scourge of AIDS while asking the Holy Spirit to enter and comfort their souls. Other skits show how their guardians at home misuse the money that their trust caregivers provide, leaving the kids with nothing. In the skit, the guardians are reported and the caregivers provide more money for school fees and food.
"I survive through the help of those who are merciful," says 16-year-old Naomi. "I also believe that I am here because of God's grace."
Asked to provide a glimpse of what her life is like, she becomes somber and tries to choke back her emotions. "My life is very hard to describe because my parents passed away, and the most difficult part is that my mother died before I had time to get to know her." Naomi lived with her father but grew up under the guidance of aunts. When her father died, she and a younger brother were on their own.
She and her brother do what they can to eke out a daily living. Sometimes they have little or no food. "But," she says, "through God's grace and people's mercy, we survive."
Twelve-year-old Delia describes her life as the Cinderella story without the happy ending. Instead, she says, it is filled with pain. She and a sister live with an aunt and her family. "I ask for soap; there is none for me but there is soap for the others," she says. "There is nothing for me, no money to go to school, but there is for the others. It is painful, but there is nothing that I can do about it. There is no love in the way I've been treated. I feel unwanted."
Another girl describes having to fight off a father who "drinks heavily and when he is drinking, he comes into my room, wakes me up and wants to get in the same bed with me." Her mother died last December, and "my father does not provide." She stopped attending school in the seventh grade to help care for herself and her sister's 2-year-old son. United Methodist News Service is withholding her name.
Trust, 14, lost both parents in 1999 from AIDS, and he tries to earn a living by making and repairing watches. He and his three siblings live with an elderly grandmother. "We have to do everything on our own," he says. "Each one of us looks for food and money to pay our fees to go to school."
When Trust prays to "my Savior," he does not only pray for a way out of his situation, "but I pray for help in all of the difficulties we and other children face in life." The difficulties include acquiring food and clothing, he says.
As UMNS departs for the day, Trust, with tears rolling down his face, asks that the United Methodist Church in America "realize that in Zimbabwe, children are suffering because we don't have parents to give us food, clothes and provide for an education. Please help us survive."
Kaseke says Nheweyembwa is unusual because it is a Christian organization based on the village concept, coordinated by people who as a church and a community are obligated to look after the welfare of the children.
His calling as a minister and a caregiver to the orphans stems from his desire to help the people in Dandara and the surrounding areas "see the church at work in the community," he says. In a society that shuns the children, the church must be different, he says. "If people would return to the Africa proverb that it takes a village to raise a child, then the children would be better off."
Helping the children survive is the mission for the people of the Dandara Township and the officials of the Nheweyembwa Orphan Trust. The community is building a mill for grinding grains, and the proceeds will benefit the children.
The mill was dug last year, and the builder was paid $72.00 for excavations, but work has not been completed because of politics. Since Zimbabwe's 2000 elections, there has been a dearth of volunteers and able bodies to develop strategies and work for the trust. "At one time, we were very viable, but since the 2000 elections, it has been risky to bring people together to do the work and discuss business because of political tensions," Kaseke says. He explains that the bulk of the work force has been lost because of job transfers and relocations driven by the country's bleak economic climate.
Kaseke would like to see the orphan trusts throughout the Murewa District's 179-mile radius pool their resources and open an orphanage for all children, one that would be supported by the church and government alike.
"The problems of orphans are serious," he says, "and we need to be organized and do something to care for them all."
Photos: 1. Enara, age 11, cries as she describes the difficulties of daily living after being left orphaned by AIDS. Some 968 children rely on the Nheweyembwa Orphan Trust in Dandara, Zimbabwe, to care for their basic needs. 2. Caregivers and children arrive at Dandara United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe to discuss challenges faced by the Nheweyembwa Orphan Trust, a ministry that cares for more than 900 children left orphaned by AIDS. 3. Ashford, age 13, describes the difficulties of daily living after being left orphaned by AIDS. Some 968 children rely on the Nheweyembwa Orphan Trust in Dandara, Zimbabwe, to care for their basic needs. UMNS photos by Mike DuBose. Click on any photo to see a larger version.
People can help make a difference by giving to the AIDS Orphan Trust, Advance #982842-6, or UMCOR's Global HIV/AIDS Program Development, Advance #982345-7. Give through a local United Methodist church or send financial contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. You can also donate online. Click here to make a secure online gift.
Source: UMNS. Linda Green is news director of the Nashville, Tenn.-based office of United Methodist News Service.
Please support UMCOR Advance #982345 "United Methodist Global AIDS Fund," Advance #101218, "AIDS Awareness and Children Impacted by HIV/AIDS in Africa," and Advance #982842 "AIDS Orphan Trust." UMCOR encourages you to give through your local United Methodist church. Gifts may also be sent to: UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. To make a credit card donation, call (800) 554-8583.
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