Christian Science Monitor Series Follows Lives, Conditions of Children Orphaned by AIDS in South Africa

The Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday examined the lives and conditions of children orphaned by AIDS in South Africa and the couples who adopt them. Summaries of the first installment in an occasional series appear below.

• "How the Monitor Met the Families": The Monitor profiled two couples residing in South Africa who have adopted children orphaned by AIDS. According to the Monitor, both couples "represent the thousands of poor black families who make profound differences in the lives" of children orphaned by AIDS by "stretch[ing] their resources to keep a young generation from slipping through the cracks of society" (Baldauf [1], Christian Science Monitor, 9/26).
  
  
• "In AIDS' Wake, New Family": The Monitor profiles the life of Olga Thimbela, a woman in South Africa who has taken in six children orphaned by AIDS in addition to her two children, and the traditional African concept of ubuntu. According to the Monitor ubuntu "means that some of South Africa's most vulnerable citizens will have someone to look after them," but it also means that families like Thimbela's "stretch themselves to the limit" (Baldauf [2], Christian Science Monitor, 9/26).
  
  
• "In 'Gift,' Couple Finds New Beginning": The Monitor profiled the life of Gift, a child orphaned by AIDS, and his adoptive parents Celina and Pule Seloma (Baldauf [3], Christian Science Monitor, 9/26).
  
  
• "Social Workers in Short Supply in South Africa": The Monitor profiles the Roodepoort Child Welfare Society in Soweto, South Africa, which "has steadily become the front lines in South Africa's troubled war on AIDS." The organization's caseload has increased from about 60 to 80 children 10 years ago to more than 1,000 currently (Baldauf [4], Christian Science Monitor, 9/26).