15th June 2005
Indaba Hotel, Johannesburg

Welcome speech presented by: Ms. Madisa Kalako-Williams

President of the South African Red Cross Society

As a hopefully acceptable breach of protocol, I wish to greet and welcome first the custodians of this day, the children in this room and their peers throughout southern Africa: Good morning to our children: Good morning to our future! This day and the future belongs to you, never forget that.

Excellencies, Red Cross Colleagues from the southern Africa region, distinguished representatives of the government of our country, colleagues from the Federation of the ICRC, colleagues and friends from the print media, ladies and gentlemen: good morning. We are humbled and honoured by your presence here today and wish to welcome you all very warmly, on behalf of both the Red Cross leadership in South Africa, and indeed in the whole SADC Region.

We appreciate the time you have given up, leaving important tasks to join us in celebrating our children in this fashion.

Allow me also to welcome other Red Cross colleagues attending the following regional meetings in and around Johannesburg during this week: The consultative meeting on Disaster Reduction; the Disaster Management Officer’s meeting; The Secretaries General’s consultative meeting on HIV and AIDS. May their deliberations be as successful as I feel this day will be. Their presence on our shores is a special honour for us as a country as it coincides with an important month of June, when we honour our children.

In 1976, before, during and after the 16th June, the children of this country made the greatest sacrifice towards the liberation of South Africa: they spoke, they sang, the acted and were arrested, brutalized and killed for it. That was the ugly face of oppression and repression.

Today we speak of children trapped in a different kind of oppression, orphaned and rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS, marginalized by abject poverty, abused by the very adults they trust, while others are killed by parents who find the burden of life too heavy to bear.

In welcoming you to this launch, I wish to appeal to all of us to think back, to a time when the word “orphan” was not common in our communities. A time when your neighbour’s child was your own, when UBUNTU made a parent and guardian out of every person, where children felt safe, loved and protected. I also wish to ask the following questions, for us to ponder on, even after this launch:

• If these children are orphans, what are we? Parents or onlookers?
• How are we going to ensure that today’s promises to these children are kept alive?
• How will we ensure that the very act of caring for these children does not further alienate them from their peers?

I believe the answers to these questions form part of our OVC strategy, but we cannot afford to be complacent. May this launch be memorable, not only to the children of the OVC programme, but to all children in similar situations worldwide. Let us show the Red Cross difference, by making this the beginning if a new life for our children, our future.

Thank you.

Key messages from the speech of: Ms. Françoise Le Goff Regional Head of Delegation for the IFRC Southern Africa

• 12.3 million children have already lost their parents to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and millions more are made vulnerable by the disease in so many ways – they are caring for sick and dying parents, they are dropping out of school, they are being abused, they are forced to work to support their families and their rights are being ignored. This figure is expected to double by the year 2010.
• In ten countries in southern Africa there are currently 4,132,000 children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
• There are 2,200,000 children who are HIV positive – 90% of these children are living in Africa. 500,000 children under the age of 15 need treatment now.
• More than 50% of orphans in southern Africa are being cared for by elderly and often frail grandparents.
• In severely affected communities, the epidemic affects all aspects of community of life – agriculture, economic and social structures, business, health and education.
• One of the principles of the Convention of the Rights of the Child is that non discrimination and yet orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS are having to face stigma and discrimination everyday.
• Recognising the urgency of addressing the needs of these children, the ten Red Cross Societies in southern Africa developed a regional OVC strategy which will ensure that the needs of the children are met in a holistic way – including material and food support, health, education, social and psychological support. The Red Cross Societies have made a commitment to scale up their support to OVC as part of their existing home based care and prevention programmes using their extensive network of community based volunteers.
• Today we are marking the launch of the Red Cross Advocacy Campaign for OVC in order to bring to the attention of local and international communities and media, the plight of orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS.
• This campaign will be launched by the Red Cross in all ten countries in the region and will continue for 6 months leading up to Word AIDS Day on 1st December.
• Supporting these children will require a sustained long term commitment over the next 20 years.
• Supporting these children will require a sustained long term commitment over the next 20 years.
• Our slogan for the Red Cross advocacy campaign is OUR CHILDREN – OUR FUTURE.
• We cannot do this alone and we all have the responsibility to ensure that these children grow up happy and healthy and become productive adults.
• The Red Cross has the biggest network of community based volunteers in the world and our volunteers are on the frontline of the fight against HIV and AIDS. The Red Cross programmes for People Living with HIV and AIDS and OVC have already begun and we cannot let this momentum die.
• The Red Cross is keen to partner with all stakeholders including government, the private sector, UN organisations, the diplomatic community, the media, international organisations, NGOs, CBOs and FBOs.
• Now it is time for action. Let us not wait any longer – these children need the support of ALL of US NOW.