Life in Swaziland is dominated by the fact that some 50% of the young population has AIDS and the overall population is being eroded at the rate of 2% a year as the death toll mounts. There is a real risk that the Swazi population will cease to exist in the forthcoming decades. The majority of Swazi live in rural communities with many villages comprising of a  dozen or so traditional huts made from grass, reeds and mud. Running water isn't available for the vast majority, so much of each day is spend travelling to unprotected wells or to parasite contaminated rivers, where water carriers are filled up once or twice a day, depending on need.

Daily life in Swaziland is centred around the traditional homestead with the kagogo (granny's hut) being the focus of activity and the sibaya (cattle byre) also playing an integral role. However this traditional family lifestyle is being decimated by AIDS as out of a population of just over one million, 100,000 children have been orphaned by the virus. This situation is likely to deteriorate further as infection rates for those aged between 20-30 years is reaching 50%. These children's lives are probably blighted forever; if they manage to remain infection free themselves in adulthood, they would none the less have missed out on education (only one in five of all Swazi children attend secondary school in any event, partially down to the fees), and become homeless or forced to live with others who cannot afford to care for them, placing them at risk of violence and abuse.

Most people in Swaziland are poor, living on less than 60p a day and 40% of all children suffer from malnutrition. Poverty is compounded by the high unemployment rate which has remained static at around 40% of the workforce for well over a decade. The future for children in Swaziland looks bleak. Poverty, AIDS are only two of the problems facing the country alongside overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and sometimes floods. Children in Swaziland need your help. Consider taking out a child sponsorship to help at least one child in desperate need.