By Children, for Children: Babiza’s Story

Louise Chawla
Growing Up In Cities

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Babiza’s Story Book Cover

Babiza’s Story by Siphelele Ndlovu is the first in a new book series which enables children to share their stories of courage, creativity and resilience with other children. It is inspired by the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that children have the right to freedom of expression in a variety of media, including print and art, and the right to a voice in matters that affect them.

This series is produced by the MOST Programme of UNESCO—the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It springs from the Growing Up in Cities (GUIC) project of UNESCO–MOST, which involves young people around the world in evaluating and improving the places where they live. Girls and boys who take part in the project love to learn about each other from stories…and so the idea of the By Children, for Children series was born.

Babiza’s Story shows children contending with the epidemic of AIDS that is sweeping communities in Africa. Babiza (a nickname), is a nine year-old boy in a peri-urban area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, whose mother is HIV positive. He tells his family’s story forthrightly, sharing his hopes and fears and the strength that he has gained by reaching out to his family, friends and a support group organized by the local hospital.

Babiza Presenting His Book at Its Launch in South Africa

I used to think that I was the only child with a mother who is HIV positive. When I was able to join a youth support group I found out that lots of children have a parent who is HIV positive and some of them have parents who have died from AIDS.…I feel happy because the youth support group has answered the questions that I had before.

For this book, GUIC teamed up with HIVAN (the Centre for HIV and AIDS Networking at the University of KwaZulu-Natal). Babiza willingly shared his story of courage and hope with Jill Kruger, Deputy Director (Social and Behavioral Sciences) at HIVAN, who is also the South African Director of GUIC. The text is in English and Zulu, with photographs of Babiza and his community and full-colored drawings by the young author himself.

For more information about the book series and the Growing Up in Cities project, see: www.unesco.org/most/growing.htm.