The Kenya s Scenario -It is estimated that there are at least one million Aids orphans in Kenya today. And this is probably just the tip of the iceberg. The tentacles of this implacable enemy have spread far and wide, and even locales that previously prided themselves on being safe and sound have come to appreciate the folly of their complacence. It is shattering news when parents are diagnosed HIV-positive. They have to face the knowledge that they will not be there for their children when they need them most.
Aids is an expensive condition to live with.
And so, with their bodies ravaged by the opportunistic infections that prey on those with low immunity, these parents have to bear the certain knowledge that there will be little to leave their children when they finally join their maker. In the case of the very poor, the deprivation is even more severe. Where the sick person is the breadwinner, the inability to work impacts there and then on the children. The loss of income often means the children have to drop out of school - unable to keep with the school fees, the annual book list and the cost of uniform. Where the children are older, there may well be a reversal of roles, with children going out to work to feed and maintain the family as well as nurse the parent on her deathbed.