Children orphaned by AIDS Unlike the Black Death, AIDS hits mostly adults of childbearing age leaving the very young with no-one to care for them. Some children have been orphaned two or even three times, as aunts and uncles who took over their care themselves died. Most are malnourished, almost all are denied an education, and tens of thousands end up on the streets. These orphans also need emotional, psychological and spiritual support to mature into productive and fulfilled adults. Many of these children are growing up in an emotional and spiritual vacuum which needs to be filled.
Orphanages are expensive and remove children from their own environment.
Neither is sponsorship an answer. Sponsorship of individual, named children can be actively detrimental to the child and his or her foster family. The answer does lie in strengthening communities and tackling the scandal of poverty in Africa. What works in the UK will not necessarily work in Zambia.