ACDP commends those confronting HIV AIDS
Cheryllyn Dudley MP

The African Christian Democratic Party commends individuals and organisations, currently confronting HIV/AIDS and encourages South Africans to continue to support initiatives that are taking care and finding homes for children who have been orphaned, abandoned and abused often because of AIDS.

Cheryllyn Dudley, ACDP MP and Spokesperson on Health, is currently in KwaZulu-Natal – the province which is likely to have the highest infection rate in the country.

Visiting the Place of Restoration Care and Resource Centre in the province today, she said: “HIV/AIDS affects 32 percent of the KZN population in general. The figure rises to 45 percent in rural areas where the centre is situated.”

“With the AIDS pandemic devastating whole communities the need for shelters and support for infected children has become critical. While 5 million people in SA are said to be HIV Positive it is estimated that by 2010 there will be 2.5 million orphans in the country.

“The Place of Restoration’s nursery capacity has doubled and will need to continue to expand in order to meet the ever increasing need created by orphaned children.”

“The centre is currently taking care of children and babies who have been abandoned because of abuse and HIV / AIDS. Baby ‘e’ is one who was a few days old when she was abandoned and rescued from a pit latrine. Two weeks later, she is responding remarkably to the love and care she’s getting at the centre.”

“Government’s recognition of the problem, in the form of 16 days of activism, could be a step in the right direction, but surely it makes more sense to put resources into solutions like these initiatives that bring ‘real’ hope to victims of HIV / AIDS and abuse.”

“Poor infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, crime, lack of education and limited childcare resources exacerbate the problem and increase rates of abuse and abandoned children.”

“The ACDP commends individuals and organisations confronting these challenges head on and serving communities with all they have despite the enormity of the task and the tremendous difficulties they face.”

“We encourage South Africans to generously support initiatives like these which bring ‘real’ hope and make a huge difference in the lives of many precious little people “