Lindiwe is a 15-year-old South African girl who lost her mother to AIDS in 2004 and has never known her father. She lives with relatives who may soon be unable to support her and her siblings. Lindiwe feels responsible as the eldest sibling but has been unable to find work. She is participating in a skills-building program called Siyakha Nentsha to help vulnerable youth access social services, education, and job opportunities in order to avoid risky decisions stemming from poverty and lack of support.

1. Lindiwe’s Story

2. Meet Lindiwe, age
15. Lindiwe (not her
real name) is
participating in a
program at her
school to develop her
skills and knowledge
to transition into a
healthy and
productive adulthood.

3. Lindiwe is a student in the Engonyameni district of KwaZulu
Natal, in South Africa. She is the eldest of three siblings, and
like many young people in the area, her life has been severely
affected by AIDS. The children lost their mother in 2004, and
have never known whether their father was dead or alive,
having never had any contact with him. Since their mother’s
death, the three children have been living with relatives.

4. As part of the program at
her school, students
keep a workbook in
which they record their
feelings and experiences.
One day Lindiwe wrote
in her workbook that she
wanted to die. Alarmed
by this workbook entry,
the young person leading
the program for her class
went to find out why.

5. Lindiwe’s caregivers receive old-
age pensions from the South
African government that they use
to see to the needs of the children
and other family members.
Recently Lindiwe learned that
financial problems mean their
caregiver is no longer going to be
able to care for her or her siblings.
She and her siblings could end up
with nowhere to live.

6. Lindiwe has already been traveling to Durban every
weekend looking for work, but isn’t able to find the money
to support herself and her siblings. She fears what will
happen to them, and feels responsibility as the eldest.

7. There are thousands of young people like Lindiwe in South
Africa who have lost at least one parent. South Africa has
social protection programs in place for young people in this
situation, but many in the most disadvantaged situations do
not know how to access them.

8. Circumstances like these put already vulnerable young people at risk for desperate
decision making. The many who live in impoverished communities lack access to
skills-building programs, recreational opportunities, job and saving mechanisms and
do not receive the information and skills necessary to access social benefits, further
education, or training opportunities. Without knowing their options or how to
exercise their rights, young people resort to strategies like trading sex for survival or
may feel lost enough to end their own lives.

9. The program Lindiwe and her classmates are
participating in is called Siyakha Nentsha,
isiZulu for “building with young people.”
Siyakha Nentsha goes beyond traditional
HIV prevention programs to build the
knowledge and practical skills that young
people in a heavily HIV and AIDS-affected
area need to succeed as adults.
Pairing participatory activities with
mentorship from a young person who
leads the program in each classroom,
Siyakha Nentsha is part of a new
movement to address HIV using a
comprehensive approach, addressing the
underlying causes of risk, and to focusing
on the needs and special circumstances of
the most vulnerable adolescents.

10. The Population Council is
working with their local
partners, the Isihlangu
Health and Development
Association and the
University of KwaZulu Natal,
to provide evidence that
multi-faceted programs like
Siyakha Nentsha help
young people in precarious
circumstances dream and
achieve their goals.

11. Siyakha Nentsha staff
are intervening in
Lindiwe’s case, and
with the skills she is
acquiring in
programme, next
time Lindiwe (and
many more like her)
will not have to feel
so hopeless because
she will have the
skills and information
to get help herself.

12. More information about the research on Siyakha
Nentsha can be found here:
http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/events/2009
IUSSP_Roca.pdf