CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTORY ORIENTATION
BACKGROUND
The first official case of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) surfaced in 1981 in the United States of America (Schoeff, 2001: 1402; UNAIDS/WHO, 2003: 1; Wojcicki & Malala, 1998: 101). The HIV infections progressed to the more serious illness of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) which ultimately led to death. Over a quarter of a century after the manifestation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Africa is still struggling to come to grips with the impact of HIV/AIDS. It appears that Africa is the continent worst affected by HIV/AIDS. Many African parents have lost their children to AIDS, and many African children have been orphaned due to their parents dying of AIDS (Dadds & Hart, 2001: 11; Harding, Easterbrook, Higgison, Karus, Ravies & Marconi, 2005: 253; Kartikeyan, 2007: 7). Some African countries (Botswana, South Africa, and Uganda) have embarked on forceful programmes intended to reduce the HIV/AIDS impact. It is not surprising that South Africa is included among these countries. The impact of HIV/AIDS is increasingly apparent in the statistics. AIDS deaths in South Africa have already exceeded one million victims, and more deaths are expected by the end of the decade (UNAIDS/WHO, 2003: 3).
Brian (2003: 423) emphasises that in the two decades since AIDS first occurred, it has reached epidemic proportions. It has impinged on and still affects the health of millions, causing disintegration among families and threatening the social welfare of communities. The AIDS impact is far worse than ever predicted. Karim and Karim (2005: 29, 31) emphasise the severity of AIDS, declaring:
“Undoubtedly, AIDS is the world’s most devastating epidemic, the deadliest in the history of humankind, its impact already far worse than could first have been predicted. It is a pandemic whose impact on societies is without precedent in recorded human history”.
Ruxin et al (2005: 110) avers that worldwide, AIDS is the foremost cause of death of 15 to 49 year-old people. He also states that the epidemic is rapidly creating an acute crisis of orphans and vulnerable children. According to Karim and Karim (2005: 352), as the pandemic escalates, the nuclear family unit is being vastly eroded. The role of household head is undergoing radical alteration as a direct consequence. HIV/AIDS is the main cause of orphanhood in South Africa, and leads to child-headed households more than all other causes (Ebersohn & Eloff, 2002:78).
The AIDS pandemic is creating new family structures across the globe, especially in Africa and specifically Sub-Saharan Africa. Karim and Karim (2005: 354) state that the current South African young generation is forced to cope with the death of one or both parents. The number of AIDS orphans is projected to reach two million by 2010. Ruxin et al (2005: 110) assert that globally, the number of AIDS orphans is also likely to increase sharply in the coming years. He predicts that AIDS orphans will exceed 25 million by 2010 in the Sub-Sahara African region. The UNAIDS (2004: 1) envisages that the crisis for children will persist for decades to come due to the continual increase in the rates of HIV infection in many regions of the world. Their calculations conclude that the increase will continue to persist for a long time into the future even if at some point there are expansions of prevention and treatment programmes. A wave of HIV/AIDS contamination and death is already extensive through South Africa. The impact will be felt throughout the decade and beyond by many households that will be directly affected.
Naturally, children have a need of a stable and secure home environment with preferably both caring parents for maximum well-adjusted development. Adolescents require a family, school and community to prepare them to meet the demands of the future adult life. In order to fulfil their intense curiosity, adolescents seek knowledge about the nature and condition of the world and the social and environmental processes around them. However, orphanhood, poor schooling, negative social interactions and many psychological stressors impact negatively on the life, hopes, and dreams of the affected adolescents. The death of a parent is a major loss for a child. Children need parents in their formative years. Worden (1996: 9) explains that in effect, parents are
children’s partners in negotiating the essential developmental tasks that would take them to adulthood. The loss of a parent in the home or family harms this core ideal.
According to Subbarao and Coury (2004: 16), HIV has not yet reached its peak in many countries. Therefore the number of children rendered vulnerable by the disease is still expected to increase. Moreover, because of the long incubation period of the disease (8 to 10 years), the adverse impacts of HIV/AIDS on children, households, and communities will remain for decades after the epidemic began to disappear (Subbarao & Coury, 2004: 7). In addition, Subbarao and Coury maintain that even if the rates of new HIV infections in adults were to fall in the next few years, the virus’s long incubation period means that parental mortality rates would not stabilise until 2020. This means that the number of orphaned children will remain high until at least 2030 or even up to the end of the first half of the twenty-first century.
Karim and Karim (2005: 352) accentuate that the impact of HIV/AIDS on society, family and community is complex. They contend that the lives of orphaned children are increasingly circumscribed by the economic problems that beset the remaining family. Singhal and Howard (2003: 5) affirm this and state that the loss of a father usually indicates loss of financial security. As a consequence, educational opportunities for the children may be lost or reduced, while on the other hand their psychosocial distress and other difficulties increase. Furthermore, not having a mother, who loves, nurtures, and guides the child, is one of the most difficult things for any child to handle. These complications as a consequence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic causes suffering and can ultimately lead to the worst of outcomes.
This background shows that the impact of HIV/AIDS on society is manifold. In this study the focus is on the effect of orphanhood on the life-world of adolescents orphaned by AIDS in the Ratanda area.
