Africa, Development & Aid, Headlines, Health

HEALTH-SUDAN: AIDS Orphans Throng The Streets

Nhial Bol

KHARTOUM, Jan 13 1999 (IPS) - Forbidden to be discussed openly by Sudan’s Islamic fundamentalists, the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has increased the number of orphans who throng the streets of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

John Babitis, a social worker employed by the Catholic church in Khartoum, says most of the children come from war-torn southern Sudan and the drought-stricken western and central regions of the Northeast African country. There are an estimated 80,000 street children in the capital city.

The Catholic Church shelters some of the homeless children, and according to Babitis, out of the 52,000 children sheltered in church hostels, 10,000 are AIDs orphans.

Babitis is in charge of one of the hostels with 40 children, 14 of whom are AIDS orphans. “I don’t know the situation in other hostels, but I think they’re all the same,” he says. “It’s even worse in towns like Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, where parents are dying in large numbers to AIDS.”

The social worker says the AIDS orphans have experienced “terrifying treatment”.

“They were abused by their relations and some were forced to do work meant for adults in return for accommodation and feeding,” he says.

“I talked to one of the boys who was brought here recently by a church official. The boy, aged 13, claims he was kicked out of the house in 1995 by his uncle. “His uncle told him that his parents died of carelessness,” Babitis says. Before he was brought to the hostel in 1996, he had spent one year on the streets, eking out a living by begging.

Social workers accuse Sudan’s hardline Islamic regime of not doing enough to alleviate the plight of the street children. Instead, they say, the regime spends most of its time rounding up the children, who are regarded as an “eye sore”.

On big occasions, like when foreign dignitaries visit, the children are hauled off to prison. They are released only when the celebrations are over, or after the foreign guests have left.

Most of the children, who are still recovering from the shock of losing their parents, are shy to tell their stories. Older girls and boys often only remain at the hostel for a short time, because they say they are ridiculed by their peers who are aware of how they became orphans.

The growing number of orphans has prompted the church to establish the Nile Society Project for the children in Khartoum.

Mama Alomdit Nyang, a cook at the Nile Society, says it has been easier for the boys to acquire skills and find their way off the streets and even out of the hostels.

“Some of the boys are now carpenters, builders and electricians. They were sent to St. Joseph Technical School in Khartoum and the talented ones have now acquired skills,” she says.

But it has not been easy for girls under the Islamic regime in Sudan which restricts job opportunities for women. “It’s hard for girls to start a new life after leaving the hostel. Many end up as prostitutes,” Alomdit Nyang says.

Health officials say AIDS will continue to spread in the country unless policy makers recognise the danger and declare the disease a national disaster.

Despite protests by Islamics, the Ministry of Health recently took an unprecedented step and published a booklet to guide health workers, students and religious groups on how to tackle the disease.

The book, ‘Management of Sexually Transmitted Disease’, is published in both English and Arabic, the official languages in Sudan.

According to health workers, more than 500,000 people are living with AIDS in the sprawling city of Khartoum alone, which houses more than eight million people. More than two million of Khartoum’s residents are displaced from the south.

 
Republish | | Print |

Related Tags



marcus buckingham books