AIDS Generation - 1x26’ - English
November 2003

Over the last ten years, average life expectancy in Kenya has fallen from 59 to 49 years. Along with Zimbabwe, Kenya is one of the African countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. AIDS spreads fast in an environment where prostitution and poverty are rife. In today’s Kenya, people who are HIV positive are rejected by the community. Those infected often don’t admit or recognise that they have the disease. Nyumbani, an orphanage in Nairobi which takes care of orphans who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS or are infected by the disease, is a haven but also the sad reflection of the Kenyans’ deep-seated fears. The same programme, Nyumbani Lea Toto, works in Kibera, the biggest slum in sub-Saharan Africa, to try and break down the taboos and stigma caused by HIV/AIDS, teach basic healthcare, and support those infected with the virus.

Today 22% of the active population of Zimbabwe carry the AIDS virus. As a result of this pandemic, 780,000 orphans find themselves without the support of a family. The effects have been multiplied by political choices made by the present government, economic conditions, and natural disasters. Whether they are HIV carriers or not, already orphaned or about to be, the children of Zimbabwe are victims of AIDS, physically and psychologically.