The headmaster of the Nemauzhe school told us of a child-headed household in need- so we set right out to visit…
…and we met Sheperd, Hardlife, and Alpha Gavhu… their 14 year old sibling Raizhou is their head of household.
This is home for 14 year old Raizhou, 10 year old Alpha, 8 year old Sheperd, and 7 year old Hardlife; these children live here alone.
we found a very empty kitchen, and immediately added this family to our child-headed household program.
There is an important lesson for Zienzele here: the father of this family is alive, but is in the North of the country panning for gold and is never here. The mother took off and remarried, leaving these four children behind. The grandmother (who most often steps in as caregiver) has refused to help because of the mother’s actions. We are seeing a new phenomenon: Child-Headed Households as the result of social factors, not HIV. Clearly it is time to communicate a better definition of CHH- the women in Nemauzhe were aware of this situation, but did not mention it because the children were not an HIV-related child-headed household. For Zienzele, the ‘why’ does not matter: these are THE most vulnerable people in the communities we serve, and we are here for them. As Nancy said by text: “…we got ‘em now!”