{"id":16021,"date":"2020-05-08T06:43:21","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T06:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/?p=16021"},"modified":"2020-05-08T07:42:22","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T07:42:22","slug":"world-aids-orphans-day-burundian-aids-orphans-face-enormous-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/world-aids-orphans-day-burundian-aids-orphans-face-enormous-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"World AIDS Orphans\u2019 Day: Burundian AIDS orphans face enormous problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lack of medicines and means, discrimination, stigma \u2026are some challenges faced by Burundian AIDS orphans. Chantal Mbonankira, 28, is an AIDS orphan since her third year of birth. She says she faces several challenges since she knew she is living with AIDS ten years after her parent had died. \u201cI felt I was not free and underestimated myself,\u201d she says it on the occasion of the celebration of the World AIDS Orphans\u2019 Day this May 7. Not only was she discriminated at school, she says, but also she was stigmatized by the society.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_14624\" style=\"width: 515px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14624\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-14624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HIV-LOGO.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"505\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HIV-LOGO.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HIV-LOGO-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HIV-LOGO-768x442.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HIV-LOGO-600x345.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 505px) 100vw, 505px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-14624\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">HIV\/AIDS logo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Mbonankira says she was supported by her family to overcome the situation. \u201cMy family comforts me and also supports me financially,\u201d she says adding that she is the only one to have been tested positive for AIDS out of her four brothers and sisters. She calls on other people to support AIDS orphans to prepare their brighter future.<\/p>\n<p>Audrey Inarukundo, Chairperson for the National Network of Young People Living with HIV- RNJ+ says relatives often hamper their future. She says their relatives often usurp the belongings left by their parents. \u201cThey want to profit from our belongings,\u201d she says adding that AIDS orphans often give up studies because they are forced to become heads of households due to the lack of school materials and education fees. \u201cHunger also affects them while they are on HIV treatment,\u201d she deplores.<\/p>\n<p>Inarukundo exhorts the government to protect AIDS orphans and their belongings. \u201cOrphans are like so many other children; they need to be supported and shouldn\u2019t be victims of discrimination and stigma,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>According to the survey conducted in 2015, Burundi has more than 800,000 orphans and the majority of them are AIDS orphans. \u201c99% of RNJ + members are AIDS orphans,\u201d concluded Inarukundo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lack of medicines and means, discrimination, stigma \u2026are some challenges faced by Burundian AIDS orphans. Chantal Mbonankira, 28, is an AIDS orphan since her third year of birth. She says she faces several challenges since she knew she is living with AIDS ten years after her parent had died. \u201cI felt I was not free [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16022,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021\/revisions\/16022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}