The Manzini-based Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse reports that some of the city's new population of homeless street children have become victims of sexual abuse. Street children were unknown in Manzini and the capital Mbabane ten years ago, before AIDS struck Swaziland to infect at least a fifth of the population. It is a cultural problem as well. The traditional Swazi family structure, where many generations lived together on a homestead, has fragmented. When parents in the prime of life die, other relatives may be overburdened, and grandparents physically unable, to look after children.
Chiefs seem to know where alternative caregivers can be found.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Phetsile Dlamini, objected to this figure as a distortion. The number represents about 15 percent of the entire population, which is an exaggeration. With no reliable figures to go by, AIDS workers have resorted to going by anecdotal evidence, and counting the heads of street children. OrphanAid will provide a true figure as orphans are located and coupled with caregivers. Assisting with the programme is a group of volunteers, mostly teachers, assembled by Father McDonnell along with the organisation Hospice at Home, whose patron is Queen LaMbikisa, and the local branch of the Salvation Army.