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South Africa remains one of the countries most severely affected by the
AIDS epidemic and according to UNAIDS has the largest number of HIV
infections in the world. UNAIDS estimated that in 2009, the total number
of persons living with HIV in South Africa was 5.7 million. There is no
doubt that South Africa is facing huge social challenges as a result of
the ravaging HIV and AIDS epidemic.
The majority of children in South Africa have never known a world
without HIV/AIDS and according to the Young Carers South Africa Project,
there are an estimated 1.4 million AIDS-orphaned children in South
Africa, and millions more who live with parents who are AIDS-sick.
Children are often the silent victims of this epidemic; physically,
emotionally and economically. Statistics reveal that unresolved grief
(especially when death is accompanied with added social stigmatisation
and the accompanying silence) leads to increased violence and crime as
children turn to gang-related activities as substitute comfort.
In order to tackle the challenges of helping
children in disadvantaged communities deal with this unresolved grief,
we worked in partnership with award-winning South African children’s
illustrator, Catherine Groenewald and storyteller Sarah Oosthuizen to
create the Threads project.
The first storybook in the Threads series, aimed at
children between the ages of six and nine, takes the form of a full
length story book which tells the story of a young girl called Thandi,
whose parents have died of AIDS, and who must now go to live with her
grandmother, Gogo. Memories of her family are woven throughout the
making of a special doll that shows her how to find comfort and hope.
With each batch of books, Siphosenkosi (meaning Gift from God), memory
dolls were supplied. The doll, called Nosipho, becomes a tangible source
of comfort and encourages
play-therapy and openness to grief counselling and eventual acceptance
by children that they are not responsible for the death of their
parents. She is made from the fabric of clothes belonging to
Thandi’s parents. The dolls are made in partnership with Siphosenkosi, a
not-for-profit organisation which offers skills-development and
employment to previously unemployed women.
The Threads package includes: storybooks (produced
in English, isiXhosa and Zulu), short reading books for younger readers,
work books, visual aids for use in a group environment and dolls. Our
aim is to get these much-needed teaching resources distributed to
schools and community organisations in the Western Cape and Kwazulu
Natal provinces of South Africa. Over 110 schools and over 35 community
organisations have benefited from this resource.
The fourth edition storybook in the Threads series
is the latest in the series. This edition, entitled A Big Secret,
sees Thandi dealing with the social stigma attached to people living
with HIV and the fear created through lack of information that the
disease causes.
£1000
funds the production and print of 500 storybooks and 50 dolls.
Click here to get
involved with this project!
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