Five AIDS orphans from Ingwavuma in northern KwaZulu-Natal are to be part of a national meeting in Cape Town aimed at giving children affected by HIV/AIDS the opportunity to explain how they would like to be helped.

Organised by the University of Cape Town’s Children’s Institute, the national children’s forum aims to introduce policy-makers, including senior public service officials and Members of Parliament, to the children, says conference organiser Paula Proudlock. The children will then be able to explain their needs directly, and thus have direct input into policy-making.

Nkosinathi Ndlanzi, 17, who is effectively parenting his 15 and 10 year old siblings, is very excited by the trip.

“I want to meet other AIDS orphans and discuss with them our home life,” says Ndlanzi, who until this week had never been more than a few kilometres from his home. “How do they eat, how do they sleep. Because we are not getting enough food.”

Ndlanzi hopes that the government will be able to help AIDS orphans with food.

Educational assistance is foremost in Zanele Dlamini’s mind, as the 14-year-old says she “wants to find work and survive”. Her parents died so long ago she can’t remember them, she is being cared for my an old woman who took pity on her.

Minenhle Dlamini, 12, comes from a family of 10 children. Their father died in 1996 and their mother in 1999. She is the eighth born.

“I just wish we can get clothes and education so we can live like normal people with parents,” says Dlamini.

Johnson Gwala, who co-ordinates the Ingwavuma Orphan Care Project says he now has about 1 000 orphans on his books. Support from individuals, as well as a small grant from the AIDS Foundation is not enough to assist the children.

The national children’s forum for AIDS orphans runs from August 22-24.