Instead, this Ugandan senior is the primary caregiver to 15 grandchildren. They are the offspring of her own four sons and daughters-in-law—all dead as a result of AIDS.

Though her situation seems extraordinary, Namasinga is but one of thousands, maybe millions, of African grandparents who care for orphaned grandchildren.

The generation that separates them, the parents, has been wiped out by the AIDS pandemic. Their absence leaves seniors with the exhausting job of child rearing. It can also leave children with the difficult task of caring for aging grandparents.

Children Orphaned by AIDS
According to the United Nations, more than 14 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have been orphaned by AIDS. That's more kids than the entire under-18 populations of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland combined.

Less than 10 per cent of children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by AIDS receive public support or services. And more than half of these children live with their grandparents, reports HelpAge International, an organization that advocates on behalf of older persons.

How World Vision Helps
Namasinga's meagre income comes from her work as a midwife. She also cultivates a small plot of land. But the family relies heavily on assistance from World Vision to meet their basic survival needs.

Five of the children are sponsored through World Vision, and staff members visit the family regularly.

"If World Vision people come around and find that I am too weak to cultivate, they either give me money to hire some people to work on the farm, or they may give me food, like maize flour or beans, to tide us over," says Namasinga.

"We had nowhere proper to sleep, but they helped us construct this shelter," she continues. "They helped with the tuition fees to keep my grandchildren in school. . . . World Vision helps us with treatment for the children when they are sick. They help with clothes and bedding."

Shifting Responsibility
Though strong in spirit, Namasinga's body is frail. Recently, she was hospitalized to have a growth removed from inside her mouth.

The unspoken reality is that Namasinga may soon require full-time care herself. She may not live to support all of her grandchildren into adulthood. It's a difficult situation that plays out in thousands of AIDS-affected households across Africa.

The burden of responsibility is shifting to the eldest granddaughter in the home, Mary. At age 17, this practical girl is still in school and helps her grandmother deliver babies in her spare time. Mary plans to become a nurse, "so I can look after my grandmother," she says.

"Gran has done so much for me. I would have suffered if she had not been there," says Mary. "We children know that Gran went through a lot of hardship and sacrifice for us."

To learn about how you can help a child affected by AIDS, click here .