Hope Amidst Despair

Of the16 million children to have been orphaned by AIDS worldwide, almost 15 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. Hope Amidst Despair focuses on these children and those who are made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.

 

Of the millions affected, many live in deep poverty, experience little schooling, have unmet health and psychological issues, and bear the burden of stigma. Their plight is often ignored and, as a result, they lead lives of isolation and exclusion that threaten their futures. The book gives voice to HIV/AIDS orphans, allowing them to tell their stories and explain the challenges they face. Susanna Grannis, founder of CHABHA (Children Affected by HIV/AIDS), shows through first-hand experience and research how young community leaders can, with help, effectively promote children's wellbeing and independence. Readers learn of the complexities and possibilities involved in positive development through the analysis of data on children from five different focus countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

 

This will be an essential title for HIV/AIDS campaigners, students of development studies, policy makers, donors, and anyone concerned about the welfare of children in developing countries.

Praise

“This is an unsentimental and realistic assessment of the desperate situation of children in sub-Saharan Africa affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Thus when the author says there is hope despite the hopelessness we must believe her. We are indebted to Susanna Grannis for pointing to the light at the end of the tunnel.” -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

“Susanna Grannis' book brings us up-to-date with how the HIV/AIDS epidemic is affecting Africa's children. The stigma attached to the disease may be diminishing, but children's grief at their parent's death remains raw. It's a sensitive and informative book.” -- Emma Guest, author Children of AIDS: Africa's Orphan Crisis (Pluto, 2003)

About the Author(s)

Susanna W. Grannis

Susanna Grannis founded and led, until 2010, CHABHA, Children Affected by HIV/AIDS. CHABHA partners with community-based children's associations in Africa. She was professor and dean at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Queens College - CUNY, and at the Bank Street College of Education. Her previous publications (published under the name, Susanna W. Pflaum) focused on children’s education.