When Aids Strikes Parents

Who will care for a new generation of orphans -- and the youngsters soon to become orphans?

Twelve-year-old Nicole knows more about AIDS than most children her age. She doesn't have the disease or carry the virus, but she has felt its deadly sting just the same.AIDS has taken both her parents. "I was nine years old when my mother died," Nicole (not her real name) calmly begins her story. "She told me that my father did drugs and died of AIDS, and that she got it from him." Nicole's grownup demeanor disappears, however, when she starts to read aloud a letter she wrote in the year after her mother died: "Dear Mom . . . I miss...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!