Caregivers attending a session about HIV Awareness, Prevention & Care

When a breadwinner is imprisoned, the family left behind suffers psychologically and physically, especially families living with HIV & AIDS. Children and spouses of inmates are usually left in a vulnerable and worrying situation without any one to provide for them. Some children have been abandoned by their mothers/fathers/relatives upon arrest of their parents while others are left in the care of grandmothers who have nothing much to offer hence forcing these young children to drop out of school. In the end, the children and spouses are forced to engage in hazardous, exploitative child labour and sexually abusive work such as prostitution and engage in early marriages for survival exposing them to the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Through workshops, the children and caregivers are able to cope with parental imprisonment or cope with having a loved one in prison and with HIV & AIDS.