Yifat Amir

Jelly Beans

“Gergle, gergle” Netta Willenberg woke up one afternoon after a long nap. Her stomach was growling like a bear who was woken up during hibernation. Netta lay in her bed under the warm sheets. She hadn’t eaten for almost a whole day. She turned her aching head around to look at the clock. It was 1:28pm. “Uh,” she moaned, “why didn’t Charlotte wake me up earlier?”. Charlotte was Netta’s little sister, who often woke everyone up by prancing around the hallway screaming the national anthem.  Netta got out of bed and dragged herself to the kitchen. On her way, she passed Charlotte, who happened to be playing computer games on her dad’s laptop.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at a soccer game right now? I thought you already left. I told mom that you walked there. Oh no, Mom is probably there right now cheering on some girl whom she believes is you! What are you doing here?” Charlotte didn’t take her eyes off the screen until she realized she had lied to Mom. Netta’s heart started to beat faster. It was the day of her middle school’s soccer team’s first play off game! She completely forgot!

“I’ll just stay here. When Mom gets back I’ll tell her that I rushed home after the game. I’m too tired to go anyways. My stomach won’t shut up either. I’ll be down stairs eating if you need me.” Netta said as she slowly walked down the stairs to the kitchen. When she got to the kitchen a few minutes later, she opened the refrigerator. It was empty. She checked the oven, then the cupboard, then the pantry. Everything was empty. “You have got to be kidding me!” she shouted. Netta plopped down onto the kitchen sofa. “Ugh. There is something poking my back.” She got up and looked behind the sofa cushion. “Yes!” she exclaimed as she pulled out a box of jelly beans that had been tucked behind the sofa. She opened the box and inside she found one orange jelly bean. On the side of it was written “Hunger can cause rainbows to appear” in block letters. “Whatever” Netta ignored the jelly bean philosophy. She closed her eyes and popped the bean into her mouth. For a moment she chewed on it, and then she swallowed. When she opened her eyes, Netta saw green and pink spots on her hands. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, thinking she was dreaming. When she looked again, the spots were still there. “Ahhhhh!” she screamed. She stood up and looked at her arms and feet. The pajamas that she wore only drooped down to her knees and her elbows. There were spots on her arms and her legs. Charlotte ran down the stairs as soon as she heard Netta scream.

“What? What happened? Why are you screaming? Netta?” Charlotte called as she rolled down the steps. When Charlotte saw Netta, she too started screaming. “Why are you covered with green and pink spots?” Charlotte had a confused look on her face.

“I don’t know! I think that the jelly bean I ate was bad! I found it behind the couch. It was orange and it had “Hunger can cause rainbows to appear” written on the side of it. Uh, oh, I was hungry –and I still am –and the jelly bean philosophy must have come true! Oh no! Charlotte, what do I do? I might turn into a rainbow!” Netta paced in a circle around the sofa.

Charlotte thought for a moment. After a few minutes an idea struck her. “This is just like the game I played yesterday! There was a girl who drank a magic potion that said ‘Angry people turn red’. When she was angry she turned red, and when she was happy she turned back to normal.” Charlotte seemed pleased with herself. Netta’s facial expression looked like she was about to ask “So?”, but she didn’t. “So if hunger makes you rainbow, then if your stomach is full, you will turn back to normal. Duh!” Netta thanked Charlotte for the advice and went to open the refrigerator. It was still empty. Charlotte heard a car door slam shut. “Mom is home! Oh no! You have to change out of your pajamas! Hurry! I’ll stall her!” Charlotte ran out of the house and slammed the front door shut. Netta was so nervous she felt sweat drip down her cheek. Then she suddenly remembered that her mom packed her a lunch for the soccer game. She ran to dining room table and opened the brown bag. She quickly gobbled up the food. Then she ran upstairs and changed into her soccer jersey. When she got back down her mom and Charlotte had just entered the house.

“Hi Mom! I rushed home after the game because Charlotte called my cell phone. I hope you didn’t worry.” Netta forced a big smile to cover up her nervousness. When she looked down, she saw that the spots on her skin were gone. “Yes!” she said in her head. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, the refrigerator is empty”. Charlotte and Netta giggled and their mom gave them a big hug. Netta mouthed “Thank you” to Charlotte and then sighed a big sigh.

HIV/AIDS Affects Orphans in Nigeria and Swaziland

Yifat Amir

2/15/08

 

 

            Every two minutes a child in Africa dies. Every six minutes, a person in Africa is infected with AIDS. A country’s wealth has an effect on the number of people infected with HIV and AIDS. Some people in poor countries cannot afford cures and live under hard circumstances. Those in wealthier countries live healthier and more luxurious lives. The amount of people living with AIDS contrasts greatly between Swaziland and Nigeria, two African countries. AIDS also causes parents to die, resulting with many orphans. HIV and AIDS is a devastating virus that infects people all around the world, especially in Africa.

Nigeria and Swaziland are two Sub-Saharan African countries who have different amounts of people infected with AIDS.  According to the Family Care Foundation, Sub-Saharan Africa contains 10% of the world’s population, yet almost 64% of people with AIDS live in that area. According to UNICEF, 38.8% of adults (ages 15-49) in Swaziland had AIDS in the end of 2003. On the other hand, 4% of the adults in Nigeria had HIV/AIDS at the end of 2003. This is a tremendous difference, considering how close Swaziland and Nigeria are according to the map on the right. This difference occurs mostly because of the difference in the countries’ wealth. Nigeria is wealthier than Swaziland, and many of the people in Nigeria can afford cures and live in more sanitary villages. Nigeria and Swaziland are near each other but have greatly contrasting amounts of people with

(Swaziland AIDS)

HIV/AIDS as it appears in this map.

Countries and territories	HIV Prevalence	Orphans
	Adult prevalence rate (15-49 years), end 2003 (%)	Children (0-17 years) orphaned by AIDS, 2003	Children (0-17 years) orphaned due to all causes, 2003	% of orphans orphaned by AIDS	Estimated number of people (all ages) living with HIV, 2005	Orphan school attendance ratio
Swaziland	38.8	65000	100000	65%	220000	97%
Nigeria	3.9	930000	8600000	11%	2900	64%

HIV/AIDS and Orphan Table (UNICEF)

          HIV/AIDS also results with the loss of lives and orphans. Most of the people with AIDS are adults and when they die, their kids become orphans. In 2003, according to UNICEF, there were about 100,000 kids orphaned by all causes in Swaziland. Strangely, in Nigeria there were 8,600,000 kids orphaned due to any cause in 2003. In Swaziland, 65% of the orphans were orphaned by AIDS but in Nigeria only 11% were orphaned due to AIDS as shown in the table below. This shows that most of the orphans in Swaziland were orphaned due to AIDS. This also means that there is something that is killing parents more than AIDS in Nigeria. What is killing the adults in Nigeria? The answer is Malaria. Malaria is another devastating disease that infects many people in Nigeria and is causing the people to die and kids to be orphaned. AIDS and HIV cause kids to lose their parents and lure them into the orphanage.

Swaziland AIDS

          Parents that die because of AIDS leave many complications for the rest of the family. The orphans have to fulfill their childhood by going to school and being with friends. But when they have no parents, they must care for their little siblings and for their homes. This makes the orphans miss school. According to the Family Care Foundation, if the whole world were a village of 100 people, 67 people would not be able to read and only 1 person would have a college education. According to UNICEF, about 85% of the people ages 15-24 in Nigeria can read. More surprisingly, about 90% of people in that age range can read in Swaziland. In Swaziland, 97% of the orphans (ages 10-14) go to school on a daily basis. In contrast, only 64% of the orphans in Nigeria go to school daily. This is horrible because the childhood of many kids is ruined because AIDS killed their parents. An example of African kids who were orphaned because of AIDS is shown in the picture to the right. AIDS causes parents to die which results in the loss of education for orphans.

This issue is devastating, knowing that AIDS kills people, leaves orphans alone, and takes away the potential knowledge from a confused kid. Swaziland and Nigeria contrast greatly when it comes to the number of people with AIDS and the number of orphans. Nigeria is wealthier than Swaziland, yet the literacy rate in Swaziland is still higher than the one in Nigeria. But still, education must be stressed in both countries because both of their literacy rates are considerably high, according to UNICEF. The orphans that are left behind when parents die have a great disadvantage in their education, let alone their childhood. They must stay at home to take care of their siblings and their home. Something must be done about this horrible virus! What does it take to save lives for the next generation? For now, we don’t know. All we can do now is live the life we have to the fullest. There is hope for the adults living and dying of AIDS and for the orphans whose childhood and education are swiped away from them for a reason they do not even understand.