AIDS – is a disease that for many years caused an exuberant problem in society: stigmatization. Anyone infected with HIV was considered unclean and was cast out of the community. Children in particular were victims of prejudice, superstition and abuse. Orphans whose parents fell ill with AIDS and died have to bear a burden that was imposed on them completely innocently.
This was the approach of Hugo Tempelman’s work when he came to South Africa more than 20 years ago. His goal and that of his Ndlovu Care Group is to help these children, to pave a way for them, despite the obstacles that life throws in their way.
Orphaned children in rural communities are at risk from various sides. If they are placed in a home, this usually also means separation from their siblings. After the loss of their parents, this is difficult for most children to cope with emotionally. If the children remain together in their parents’ home, the eldest takes on the role of head of the family. It looks after its siblings, provides food and water, worries about safety and the fear of possible night-time raids in the unprotected children’s household mean that many of these child heads cannot sleep. They wake up at night, sleep during the day, do not go to school as a result, do not graduate and have no future. The greatest danger for these children comes from adults who regard them as fair game. It is not uncommon for their few possessions to be stolen and their human dignity taken away from them. Sexual assaults are no exception.
A classic case of a children’s household in Elandsdoorn:
Two girls under the age of ten live in this house with their little sibling. Their parents have died and the girls look after themselves as best they can. They know their neighbors, they used to go to the nearby school and live relatively close to a local water supply point. But since the parents’ death, the house has fallen into disrepair.
One wall is made of rusty corrugated iron, the roof is leaking and in some places no longer exists. It drips onto the clay floor, the windows and doors no longer even keep out the weather. There is no electricity, no sewage system, no protection against intruders.
Without help, the future of these two girls looks bleak. They cannot afford school uniforms and they are not allowed to go to school without one. They will therefore have to leave school without a connection. It can be assumed that they will have sexual experiences at an early age, most probably not voluntarily. Prostitution is a realistic career choice for children in this situation. HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are the expected consequence.
Hugo Tempelman and the Ndlovu Care Group face this sad reality on a daily basis. All the children often have left after the death of their parents is the house in which the family lived. The house is often the only link to the past.
The top priority is to care for these children sensitively. That is why the Ndlovu Care Group’s help is at the very lowest level: to ensure that basic needs are met.
The principle is illustrated very simply and clearly in Maslow’s pyramid of needs.
Maslow studied human motivations and their origin in needs in detail. His theory is based on the fact that the deficit needs, above all the basic and security needs, must first be satisfied or at least largely met before individual growth needs can even be considered.
In order to preserve the family as a unit, maintain the familiar environment and promote acceptance in the community, Ndlovu ensures that existing structures are renovated. The houses are secured, fenced in and fitted with lockable doors and windows. For children who are left without a roof over their heads, the Ndlovu Care Group creates a new home with the children’s houses for AIDS orphans (Orphan Houses). These child-run houses provide the orphans with protection, security and an official residence – the basic prerequisite for everything else.
The nutrition of orphans is often inadequate or non-existent. For young children, the resulting developmental deficits can have a lifelong impact. This is why the children are included in the Ndlovu nutrition program. Once these basic needs have been met, Ndlovu turns its attention to the reasons why children drop out of school. A lack of school uniforms no longer has to be a reason. Those who want to learn should be allowed to do so. The appropriate clothing is provided. Ndlovu strives for social integration with various facilities such as the Chill Hub House, the choir and the Miracle Theater. Once relationships are created within the community, orphans have a protected environment in which they are no longer shunned or even cast out. And then these children can redraw the course of their lives, which was so bleakly mapped out, through their own efforts. The path is paved for a self-determined and self-confident life.
