regions are sending away kids born to HIV infected parents, even
though the children did not test positive. Private schools have
especially been spotted as places where children are told to leave the
schools, simply because their parents have been found to be infected
with the disease.
It was also revealed that the pressure to send the children away
comes from parents who are not infected. For example, parents in a
school in the regional capital of Bolgatanga threatened to withdraw
their children if a particular child whose parents were infected
wasn't sent away from the school. But funny enough, the child tested
negative.
But because of the pressure on the management of the private
school, who did not want to lose so many pupils because of one child,
it had to consent to the demands of the parents. The news network
made efforts to test the situation by making calls to some schools
and feigning that they had a child whose mother was infected with HIV,
and needed to be enrolled in a school. While a few out of pity and
consideration readily offered admission. Others plainly replied in the
negative. Then a few others who said they were going to see what they
could do and then get back to them, but they never did.
In another painful story, a boy of about 8, got orphaned recently
by the death of his mother, who lost her life after a struggle with
AIDS(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) . But as result of his
mother's death to the disease, the young boy was sent away by his own
relatives who felt they would get infected by having him around. He
had no where to stay for days, and so he became sick and had to be
admitted to a hospital where he was treated and taken care of for
days. After much enquiries, help came, and the boy had to be sent to
school in one of the orphanages in Accra.
This story, is a clear example of the pain of discrimination and
stigma, innocent children have to face in a society, that doesn't
smile at people infected with the disease.
Nicolas Kumah, the director of an NGO named Afrikids raised alarm
on the issue, he said parents had no right to place a stigma on a
child because his/her parents tested positive. He also emphasised on
the role the School Health Education Project (SHEP) could play in
raising awareness about the effect of discrimination and unfair stigma
associated with these rather unlucky kids. And to let people know it
is possible to live with the infected without being in danger of harm.
Afrikids has helped a lot in turning the lives of kids who are
being maltreated by certain segments of the society for the better.
Even relocating many of them.
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