Blinded by Tradition and Religion

Children, left to be raised by other family members after AIDS caused the death of their parents. As sad as it seems, they are the lucky ones. Some children in Zambia, Africa are left with no one after their parent's death and are forced onto the streets to take care of themselves. AIDS/HIV is infecting one in four of the 9.5 million people in Zambia. Funerals have become a daily ritual and thousands of orphans …

…come back and haunt the family. These traditional beliefs are deeply entrenched and the biggest problem in spreading HIV/AIDS is sexual cleansing. And so, Sundays in Zambia are punctuated by long funeral processions. As their childhoods end abruptly, legions of frightened and confused kids struggle to comprehend why their lives had so precipitously spun out of control. And their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older sisters work against all odds to support them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**