Airtimes: Indian Standard Times

Wed, Jul 19 at 1830hrs
Sat, Jul 22 at 1130am and 1930hrs
Sun, Jul 23 at 1130am

CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour travels to the slums and villages of Kenya, where more than one million children have been orphaned by AIDS. She discovers the lost generation of AIDS in Kenya – those who are infected at birth or very early on in life – and are left to fight the AIDS pandemic on their own.

“For some children, their parents’ disease is their only inheritance” Amanpour explains. “This enemy, AIDS, is a tragedy which bears down on families. It’s a truly shocking story.”

In a country where HIV/AIDS was declared a national disaster in 1999, WHERE HAVE ALL THE PARENTS GONE? goes right to the heart of this human tragedy as Amanpour spends time with the orphans left behind. One orphan she meets is Alima, a 17-year-old girl left to take care of her seven younger siblings. Alima must give up her dream of going to school to keep her family together, as she says that is the most important thing. Amanpour also introduces us to 11-year-old Mukhtar and his family, as his father is dying of AIDS and his mother, unbeknownst to Mukhtar, is also infected.

But not all hope is lost for Kenya’s orphans. There are individuals such as Khadija Rama, who runs a relief centre, supported by UNICEF, where she clothes and feeds over 600 orphans in the neighbourhood, whilst trying to find them foster families.

Amanpour also finds room for optimism when she travels to Nairobi’s largest slum, Kibera, and to the Starra Rescue School, where 70% of the children are AIDS orphans. This neighbourhood school is a place where local children can receive meals and the treatment they so desperately need.

Africa is the hardest hit of all AIDS suffering continents. Its legacy - 12 million orphans and counting…

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