During an interview with Reuters, a Kenyan woman Kanotu Mumo revealed the condition in which she has to fend for her grandchildren and lives in Kiberia, which is the one of the biggest slums in Africa. There are a many such grandmothers in Africa who have to fend for their grandchildren who are left behind after their parents have died of AIDS.
While talking about the UN figures, the fact is that there are almost 12 million children in Africa who have lost one or both of their parents due to AIDS. This is about 80 percent of the AIDS orphans of the developing world. It is since 1990 that the numbers of orphans have increased by 50 percent.
The story of Kanto Mumo is similar to a number of grannies who had to leave their home town and fend their grandchildren. She lives in a hut that is 10 by 8 feet and you cannot see more than few inches inside the hut because it is staked with charcoal because she sells charcoal for her living. She lives there with four of her grandchildren, two great grand children and a child of a dead relative. There is no toilet facility or running water.
Like many other grandmothers interviewed by Reuters, Kanto Mumo cleans up the Stara School in Kiberia twice a week. Their grandchildren are allowed to attend the school and are fed with steaming porridge and beans. This project was started by a group of Kibera mothers, seven years ago with the help of UN World Food program and Kenyan aid agency feed the children.
This project is supplied and funded by Dutch charity ChildsLife International. The health of the children is also looked after by a nearby clinic, which supplies against the vouchers from the School. Josephin Mumo, a resident of Kibera has also supported in the raising of the School.
The project is even backed up by singer Harry Belafonte, Barabara Bush, mother of President George Bush and actress Drew Barrymore.
Many of the grandmothers are themselves suffering from HIV or old age problems. Some of them sell charcoal or wash clothes and earn to survive with their grand children. When they are not well, no one is there to even feed them. They are outcast by their villages and can’t go back. Most of them are worried about what will happen to the children if they died.
Via: News
