Case Studies

South Kabras, Kenya

In African countries heavily impacted by AIDS, as many as 20% of orphans are below the age of five. More than half of orphans are under the age of nine (UNICEF). Neglecting the youngest children orphaned and made vulnerable by AIDS jeopardizes the future of families, communities, and nations, yet very few programs exist to meet their health, nutrition, education and psychosocial caring needs. Research around the world shows that young children denied the basic human essentials are likely to fail in school and to grow up anti-social and impoverished. AIDS-affected caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children urgently need support to raise safe, happy, and healthy young children.

Since March 2001, the Academy for Educational Development (AED) has been implementing Speak for the Child in the AIDS-affected community of South Kabras in Kenya's Western Province (funded by USAID).  Speak for the Child's goal is to improve the physical, cognitive, and emotional care and development of orphans and children affected by AIDS who are five years and younger. Immunization, preschool enrollment, regular home visits by trained mentors, caregiver support groups, income generation, and community organization capacity building are the components of a well-managed, cost-effective program that caregivers and children can rely on for support.

This case study shows that for pennies a day, community programs can help families care for young orphans and AIDS-affected children and do so effectively, efficiently and accountably. Orphanages are not the best answer to the challenges of AIDS. Children who remain within their families and communities get the individual attention they need when they are young and stay connected to their past and their future--a basic human right.