Swazi Schools Filling Gaps Left by HIV/AIDS, Famine
Some schools in Swaziland are filling "many of the gaps" left in the country by the "double whammy" of HIV/AIDS and famine by feeding AIDS orphans and teaching them how to farm, PRI's "The World" reported on Tuesday (Kruger, "The World," PRI, 10/7). Swazi Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini in January said that the country's official HIV prevalence had reached 38.6%, up from 34.2% in January 2002. The country now has the second-highest HIV prevalence -- after Botswana -- in the world (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 9/8). According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, 500 households in Swaziland are headed by a six-year-old child, PRI reports. Alan Brody, UNICEF country director for Swaziland, said that the country's system of using the extended family as a safety net for orphans "finally got broken" in 2001 by the combination of so many newly orphaned children and the rapid increase in food prices. Swaziland is experiencing its third year of drought, and children living in households affected by HIV/AIDS are not learning traditional agricultural skills, PRI reports.
The PRI segment profiles a primary school in the remote eastern region of the country where teachers are starting a garden for students to learn agricultural skills they can use outside of school ("The World," PRI, 10/7). The full segment is available online in Windows Media.
