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[CATANDICA, 27 December 2007] - On a farm in the district of Bárue, in the central province of Manica, 16-year-old Helena Ivan hurries home with a small bundle on her head. After hours packaging potatoes, she’s allowed to take a few for herself and the two brothers she has been supporting since her parents died of AIDS-related diseases in 2005. Of the possessions Ivan’s mother and father left – a kiosk, a house, a minibus and some goats – only the house was handed over to the children, and only because it had been registered in the name of the youngest child, Januário, who is now 12. "My uncles took the rest. They said we weren’t old enough to take care of business, but they never come to leave us money to live on, and when we go to ask them for provisions they say they don’t have any money," said Ivan. According to a recent study by international nonprofit organisation, Save the Children conducted in four Mozambican districts, including Bárue, widows and orphans are often stripped of their belongings by family members. The goods taken are rarely recovered. The country’s high AIDS-related mortality rate has made cases of disinheritance widespread. Government statistics reveal that 1.6 million of the more than 10 million Mozambicans under 18 years of age are orphans. Of this total, 380,000 are thought to have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The study showed that the explosion in the number of orphans has caused a breakdown in family support structures that traditionally provided a safety net for widows and orphans. Little knowledge of the law Mozambique’s civil code and a 2004 family law stipulate that when someone dies, their children and spouse are the first in line to inherit any goods or property. CATANDICA, 27 December 2007 (IRIN) - On a farm in the district of Bárue, in the central province of Manica, 16-year-old Helena Ivan hurries home with a small bundle on her head. After hours packaging potatoes, she’s allowed to take a few for herself and the two brothers she has been supporting since her parents died of AIDS-related diseases in 2005. Of the possessions Ivan’s mother and father left – a kiosk, a house, a minibus and some goats – only the house was handed over to the children, and only because it had been registered in the name of the youngest child, Januário, who is now 12. "My uncles took the rest. They said we weren’t old enough to take care of business, but they never come to leave us money to live on, and when we go to ask them for provisions they say they don’t have any money," said Ivan. According to a recent study by international nonprofit organisation, Save the Children conducted in four Mozambican districts, including Bárue, widows and orphans are often stripped of their belongings by family members. The goods taken are rarely recovered. The country’s high AIDS-related mortality rate has made cases of disinheritance widespread. Government statistics reveal that 1.6 million of the more than 10 million Mozambicans under 18 years of age are orphans. Of this total, 380,000 are thought to have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The study showed that the explosion in the number of orphans has caused a breakdown in family support structures that traditionally provided a safety net for widows and orphans. Little knowledge of the law Castigo Américo, 13, and Frederico Manuel, 16, were taken in by neighbours when they lost their parents. In exchange for sustenance, they stopped going to school and began working on farms and selling pastries at the Bárue market. "I don’t know where the possessions that were in our house went. All I know is that the house is being rented out. My uncle never came to see me again. He was the one who asked me to stay at the neighbours’ house," Manuel said. "I stopped going to school because the woman I was living with said I should help out with the garden and sell in the market to contribute to the household income," he said. In Massingue’s view, "it is urgent for organisations providing assistance to orphans to be given legal knowledge in order to defend them." Since 2004, local NGO, Foro Mulher has been distributing a manual on inheritance rights and family law in local languages in order to guide community leaders on how to protect widows and orphans. The good news from the study is that in some villages, traditional practices are adapting to take into account the law and the impact of the epidemic. "Culture is dynamic ... and there are cases in which traditional leaders really do help children and women," the survey said. Further information
Mozambique’s civil code and a 2004 family law stipulate that when someone dies, their children and spouse are the first in line to inherit any goods or property.