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| AIDS in Africa, Part One: Caroline's Story |
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Having lived in Africa I was aware that events there attracted little attention unless there was a catastrophe and thousands of deaths were involved. Yet AIDS was quietly claiming a generation, and leaving another generation orphaned. Beyond the official numbers each death is a personal tragedy for the person who has the virus and for their family. In many Western countries AIDS has begun to be seen as controllable because expensive inhibiting drugs have become available. In Africa, few have this option, and the reality of living with AIDS remains very different. I also wanted to tell the story of the staggering number of children orphaned because of AIDS in Africa. The first part tells Caroline’s story, about a Ugandan woman Caroline Nantamu and her children Patrick, Justine, Mary and Joseph; the second part of the country's struggle to cope with the children orphaned by AIDS. As I became involved with Caroline's family and she became more ill, I helped with food and medicine and tried to arrange for an orphanage to take care of her children when she died. |
 Caroline (above) was 34 when I first met her. Like many African women who have been infected by their partners she only found out she was HIV positive when she was pregnant with her fourth child. Her husband refused to acknowledge that he had the virus and soon after she tested HIV positive, he died from what was believed to be an AIDS related illness. These photographs tell Caroline’s story, and through her and her family's loss, how AIDS is devastating the lives of millions of other Africans. |
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