According to Beatrice Were, ActionAid’s HIV and AIDS research and policy analyst, children can no longer learn their family backgrounds from their elders like it used to be in the past, especially because many HIV infected parents usually die when their children are very young.
The Memory Book helps parents, relatives and friends save vital information about their family backgrounds.
She says: “Although the Memory Book was first written for children whose parents had HIV and AIDS, the materials are useful for all vulnerable children such as orphans or those separated from their parents for whatever reasons.”
The first memory books, according to Were, were made in England in the 1990s by African parents who were afraid they would die while their children were very young and lose their origins.
The idea has been used widely in many cultures to support children who are going through any type of loss and bereavement.
In Uganda, it was adapted by the National Community of Women living with HIV and AIDS to help its members and their families cope with the pandemic.
Were has mobilised many women living with HIV to challenge abuses and stigma and has helped many women to open up to their children and families about their HIV status.
After struggling for eight years with the need to reveal to her children that she had HIV, Were started a memory book.
“I have fought AIDs denial, fear and stigma. I have fought so that women will not be afraid to seek HIV testing and discuss AIDS with their families. I have fought so that women will have an easier time revealing their HIV status especially to their children than I did,” said Were.
She said the book addresses the fact that children have a right to know about HIV in their families and that parents with HIV have a duty to tell their children before telling any body else.
Were said the memory book empowers parents with communications skills to talk to their children about AIDS, sexuality and death.
The book also documents important family history into an album with family photographs so that children can remember their childhood memories.