“Traditionally, African society had no such thing as an orphan. When the social structure was intact, the extended family immediately adopted any child who lost his or her parents. In many African countries economic turmoil and civil unrest have severely disrupted these structures.

The traditional concept of an extended family has come under so much stress that societies have not been able to deal with the problem of orphans, especially in the numbers generated by the multitude of parental deaths caused by AIDS. Thus the thousands of defenseless children who now make the street their home."