Journal of Social Development in Africa (1997), 12,2,61-73 
AIDS-risk Patterns and Knowledge of 
the Disease Among Street Children in 
Harare, Zimbabwe 
LINDA DUBE * 
ABSTRACT 
HIV/AIDS is perhaps the fastest growing worldwide health concern today. 
Universally, adolescents have been identified as a group at high risk of HIV 
infection (Richter & Swart-Kruger, 1995). Very little information is available on 
the lifestyles, health and rate of HI V infection among street children in Zimbabwe. 
Isolated studies focusing on street children have begun to emerge in some countries 
and show HIV infection as an issue of growing concern. Our knowledge on the 
subject is still very limited. This report outlines the patterns of risk to HIV by street 
children in Harare, especially street boys, as well as outlining an assessment of their 
knowledge of, and attitudes towards the disease. 
Introduction 
This report is not meant to over-emphasise the issue of street children as a very high 
risk group for HIV/AIDS infection. The danger is that this may cause discrimination 
against them as AIDS puts people into a condition of socially defined 
"impurity," if I may borrow the term from Mary Douglas (1966). One who suffers 
from the disease is socially defined as the "impure other." This is never more so, 
than when a disease is fatal and resonates with people's sexuality (Barnett & 
Blaikie, 1992:3-4), which above all is taken to coincide with morality. Unfortunately 
in the early stages in the quest for understanding the disease, AIDS has been 
seen as affecting some culturally defined groups of people like homosexuals, black 
people, foreigners, prostitutes, drug addicts, to name a few. For example early 
suggestions for a name indicate the prejudice so easily associated with the disease. 
It was referred to as GRIDS - for Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome 
referring specifically to homosexual men (Barnett & Blaikie, 1992:1). 
There are few countries in which cases of AIDS have not been reported. Thus 
the implications of the disease are international and transcultural. AIDS is not a 
* Linda Dube is the National Coordinator of Child watch International's Zimbabwe 
Country Case S tudy Project which seeks to assess the possibility of developing indicators 
as well as a system to monitor the implementation of children's rights in Zimbabwe as 
contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Contact at 
184 Fife Avenue, Harare; Tel: 263-4-795472/721541; Fax: 263-4-796535
62 Linda Dube 
disease of a particular people, gay, black, prostitutes and others. It is a disease of 
people. Many of the ways by which the disease is transmitted are transcultural and 
include many relations of intimacy (mutual sexual relations, pregnancy and birth) 
and relations of care (blood transfusion and medical treatment) as well as the darker 
sides of human experiences such as drug abuse, prostitution, and rape. In a nutshell, 
the disease is not exclusively sexually transmitted. 
While many organisations and programs are making significant contributions 
to counter the spread of the disease, some marginalised groups like children in 
difficulty, still lack access to the education and resources available to the mainstream 
society. The purpose of this report is to share knowledge and to sensitise 
ourselves to include such children in our programmes as well. 
This report is based on information that has been collected by the team of 
outreach workersof Streets Ahead, (a welfare organisation looking into the welfare 
of marginalised children in the city of Harare) within and outside the context of the 
AIDS education programme of the organisation; the clinic for street children that 
was eventually initiated by Streets Ahead as a result of the AIDS education 
programme as well as my own research for a doctoral thesis which is forthcoming 
(see, Dube, 1997 & forthcoming). 
Within the AIDS awareness peer education programme, a number of settings 
and tools have been used to elicit useful information so as to design an information 
programme that is tailored to the specific needs of the children. Workshops have 
been another useful way of acquiring information as well as being useful in the 
learning process for the children. Within workshops and discussions, videos such 
as Karate Kids and problem-posing posters have been invaluable. In some 
instances, children have come up with their own drawings and comics to illustrate 
their feelings towards certain issues pertaining to HIV/AIDS. Such drawings have 
been invaluable in designing useful information for use by the children in peer 
education. This has been very important in that the peer education programme has 
been tailored to suit the realities of the children, not those of us as adults nor those 
of the institution we are working for. As in the words of Ennew (1996:203): 
"Studies on children in general, and street children in particular, tend to 
rely on adults' assumptions about how the children think and what they 
must need. Children themselves are rarely asked about their lives. Instead 
researchers ask parents, teachers or staff of institutions. If they ask children 
directly they seldom pay much attention to making questionnaires and 
interview schedules relevant to children's experiences, interests or language. 
If they do try to approach children's worlds through non-verbal 
research methods such as collecting drawings, they frequently fail to ask 
children what the drawings are intended to represent, relying instead on 
adult interpretations, often using psychological concepts and research 
instruments derived from Northern contexts."
AIDS-risk Patterns & Knowledge Among Street Children: Harare 63 
The context 
In Zimbabwe, persons aged 20-39 years of age account for a significant proportion 
of all known AIDS cases: see Table 1 below. 
Table 1: Cumulative AIDS cases by Age Group: 1987 - March 1995 
Age Group Female Male 
3177 0-4 
5-14 178 
118 
5197 
15-19 
20-29 
2771 
194 
685 
6371 
4764 7493 
3631 
30-39 
40-49 1607 
504 1471 50-59 
60+ 538 
1092 
172 
756 Unspecified Age 
17824 22895 Total 
Source: AIDS Coordination Programme, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare 
The above table shows that the 20-29 and the 30-39 age groups are the hardest hit 
by the AIDS pandemic. Within the two age groups, the worst hit are the males in 
the 30-39 age group and the females in the 20-29 age group. In third place are the 
males in the 20-29 age group, while in fourth place are the females in the 30-39 age 
group. Generally, the figures indicate that males tend to suffer more than their 
female counterparts, especially from the age group 30-39 and above. 
Given the median latency period of 8-10 years between HIV infection and the 
development of AIDS (Sugerman, Hergenroeder, et al, 1991), it basically means 
that many of the young adults with AIDS, in the 20-29 year category, must have 
acquired the infection during their teenage years. 
An explanation for the high incidence of AIDS cases amongst the females in the 
20-29 age group is that older men (30s - 40s) are very often having sex with younger 
women or girls, contributing to what is generally known as "sugar daddies." The 
young girls usually have boyfriends of their ages and they invariably pass the 
infection to them, while the older men pass the infection on to their wives. 
Women generally develop AIDS at a younger age than men on average because 
of the following: 
Total Unspecified 
Sex
25 
5987 
372 
808 
11593 
12292 
5246 
0
39 
5
3
8
5 
4
3 
1979 
713 
460 2308 
579 41298
64 Linda Dube 
• girls tend to be sexually active at a younger age than their male counterparts, 
and they tend to be involved with older men; 
• girls may have riskier partners than boys of their own age. Girls are more 
likely to have an older partner for material benefits and status while at the 
same time have an affair with a boy of their age with whom they hope to 
settle down; 
• men looking for a mistress specifically choose younger girls hoping they 
are free of HIV infection and for other reasons (such as "they are tender and 
fresh") and the men may therefore practise unsafe sex; 
• young girls are more prone to sexual abuse, date rapes, incest and other 
forms of sexual abuse. While generally young women prefer an "experienced" 
man as a lover than younger man who prefer an inexperienced 
young woman. 
The general pattern of sexual relationships is one in which large numbers of men, 
single or married, have sex frequently with relatively young women (as girl friends, 
sex workers and so on) who may have a number of male partners. The majority of 
married women do not have multiple partners, but are at risk because of their 
husband's extra-marital relationships (Jackson, 1992:61). 
The statistical information that I rely on here on the situation of street children 
is based on data that came out of the clinic which was established as a direct outcomeof 
the AIDS awareness and education programme. Unpublished institutional 
data from six clinic sessions in which 66 street children (all boys) attended as from 
March, 1996 to November of the same year, reveals that* 
• 42,1 % of the children suffered from infections such as chest and urinary 
tract, excluding sexually transmitted infections (STIs); 
• 14,5% of the children suffered from sexually transmitted infections; 
• 10,5% suffered from skin problems including scabies; 
• an equal number of 9,2% of the children was split between ear, nose and 
throat problems (9,2%) and injuries due to violence (9,2%); 
• a remainder of 14,5% represented children suffering from other unspecified 
ailments. 
From the above information it is clear that sexually transmitted infections constitute 
a significant total of the health problems of street children in Harare.This is 
cause for concern because experts in this area are generally agreed that sexually 
transmitted diseases pose more chances for HIV infection.
AJDS-risk Patterns & Knowledge Among Street Children: Harare 65 
General AIDS-risk Factors Amongst Street Children and Youth 
Some children in difficulty are into commercial sex as part of their survival, while 
at the same time sex is also an avenue by which the children are exploited, 
especially by the powerful members of mainstream society/Despite that there is 
no systematic information available on HIV infection among street children, the 
fact that some children sell sexual favours to adults to survive poses a great danger 
for the future. The children are really at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. 
Through experience in working with children in difficulty, it has become clear 
that existing programmes on STDs/HIV/AIDS for children and youth are carried 
out in schools and colleges and therefore are not accessible to children and youth 
who work and live on the streets. Even if this information were accessible, it does 
not address some of the specific circumstances in which these children find 
themselves. 
Street children and street youth are regarded amongst adolescents generally, as 
being at increased risk for HIV/AIDS infection for the following reasons: 
• they become sexually active at a younger age than adolescents generally 
(Rotheram-Borus, Becker, et al, 1991); 
• they tend to have more sexual partners, because of the various forms of 
sexual relationships they engage in - for example rape, commercial sex, and 
survival sex (Athey, 1991); 
• there is no useful information and services available to them to enable 
them to make informed choices in sexual matters. There is no system in 
place to make condoms available and accessible to the children on the 
streets who may require them for at least some protection when they are in 
difficult situations. They are cut off from the customary services of 
information such as the school and the family; 
• they often use drugs, abuse substances such as glue and take alcohol 
which enhances sexual behaviour that in turn exacerbates risks of HIV/ 
AIDS infection (Athey, 1991), as they engage in sex indiscriminately; 
• survival on the streets entails giving higher priority to obtaining food, 
clothing and shelter than concerns with health or safe sexual practices 
(King, etal, 1989); 
• the children tend to suffer from low-self esteem, indifference and 
fatalism; 
• they have attitudes that are likely to mitigate against behaviours that 
could reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS infection (Richter & Swart-Kruger, 
1995); and 
• the children like other teenagers in general may perceive themselves to 
be both physically and psychologically invulnerable (Richter & Swart- 
Kruger, 1995:31; Swart-Kruger & Richter, 1996:237).
66 Linda Dube 
Thisreport basically covers what we have found out with street boys. It is, however, 
important to spell out briefly what we know of street girls. 
About street girls 
In Harare, one sees very few girls on the streets. The girls that one sees on the streets 
usually accompany their blind parents who beg on the streets, while other girls 
work as vendors with their parents or groups of older women in the city centre. By 
nightfall, most girls working on the streets go home with the exception of some few 
groups. It is becoming clear that some of the girls who work as vendors are involved 
in prostitution especially girls that work as late as 10 pm and beyond. I have 
observed that girls and women who work until late usually operate close to a "nightspot" 
A woman or girl disappears for a while leaving her wares in the care of other 
girls and women. Some are picked up by cars to be dropped later, while others 
disappear into a close-by building or alley. This is common in the Kopje area. 
Girls who are homeless are reportedly to be quickly taken by "aunties" and 
"uncles." Aunties are older women prostitutes whose attractiveness is on the wane. 
Such "aunties" or "madames" can continue to earn money by collecting under their 
charge young women with whom they can keep their clients content (see The 
Herald, 8 August 1990). The girls consequently have somewhere to stay and 
usually a relatively good income and smart clothes. Other homeless girls live on 
the streets with their homeless mothers or families. I have observed that some girls 
who live with their homeless mothers are encouraged into living with a man at an 
early age. The man is usually also homeless. The mother of the girl might be 
receiving assistance from her son-in-law, and in some cases both might be living 
together as one family. The "married" girl might be involved in prostitution as a 
way of earning an income, with her mother and "husband" aware. 
A phenomenon that is on the increase in some streets of Harare is the "teenage 
girl street walker." This phenomenon seems to have developed from the Kopje area 
(west of city centre) into the Avenues (north of city) stretching into Greenwood 
Park (east of city centre). It is rife in the Avenues because the latter is partly a 
cosmopolitan suburb with lots of tourists and other people who are temporarily in 
the city. Furthermore, the Avenues predominantly houses bachelors, while some 
parts of the area that are used as offices by day, become very quiet and attractive 
to "street walkers." The Kopje and the Avenues are well known as very attractive 
places for casual sex. 
A number of these child walkers are believed to come from high density 
suburbs, while some are thought to be in domestic employment within the Avenues 
and venture into prostitution at night to supplement meagre incomes. Being in
AIDS-risk Patterns & Knowledge Among Street Children: Harare 67 
domestic employment by day might offer some girls slight "protection" and 
security. 
It seems that the girl child is relatively "protected" when both working on the 
streets and while being a sex worker such that their visibility on the streets 
(especially by day) is minimal. The relative "protection" is basically that they 
appear as children accompanying their parents when in fact it may not be the case 
for every child. 
Patterns of risk of street children (boys) in Harare 
Circumstances of HIV/AIDS transmission to street children in Harare come in 
these various ways. 
Firstly, transmission can take place through exchange of sex for money. 
Children are approached during the night (especially during week-ends) by adult 
males (who the children call mangochani) wishing, to engage them in sex in 
exchange for money. Sometimes they are offered a meal and gifts in exchange for 
sex. The children find it difficult to resist and many participate because of the 
pressure to earn money to survive. This is commercial sex or prostitution, which 
Bond, Mazin & Jiminez (1992:18) call "transactional" sex. It is also abuse and 
exploitation of the children by some unscrupulous adults. The act can be penetrative 
(penis in rectum) or "safe" sex (penis in thighs or mouth). Children who are 
often abused by the mangochani arc referred to as vakadzi (Shona term for women) 
or munha by other street children. Love-making between a munha and ngochani 
is called kukangana (Shona term for roasting). 
The second possible way of transmitting HIV/AIDS is through exchange of sex 
for security (survival sex). The street community has a well-established power 
balance and hierarchy. Many of the younger street children, especially when they 
initially enter street life, are required not only to pay in cash to older street people 
and to a monya (an older and stronger boy who controls the rest in a group) but are 
also required to submit themselves to sexual activities in exchange for protection, 
favours and other goods and services. The act is often penetrative rather than the 
"safe" sex variety mentioned above. 
The third possible way of HIV/AIDS transmission is when children engage in 
sex as an exchange of experience. Some children who have been sexually abused 
by adults, or engaged in commercial and survival sex, cope with the sense of 
frustration and powerlessness by engaging other children in similar sexual activities. 
Other children, especially those that huddle together for warmth during winter 
nights, experiment sexually with one another as part of natural discovery. The 
children usually call this kujumana in their street argot. The act is often penetrative.
68 Linda Dube 
However, within the third type of sexual risk mentioned above, one cannot rule 
out what Bond, Mazin & Jiminez (1992) termed "comfort" sex. Unlike other sexual 
activities in which youth participate (for example, as a result of sexual abuse, as an 
economic transaction, or because of exploitation) "comfort" sex occurs as a result 
of mutual consent and is reported to be gratifying, or at least a pleasant experience 
by those who engage in it. The above authors (1992:18) elaborate by pointing out 
that:
"Comfort sex does not necessarily imply exclusiveness with a single 
companion or sexual partner; it is more a series of situational sexual 
encounters than a result of a permanent loving relationship. It is more a 
search for relief from the tensions caused by true transactional sex." 
The fourth way is when some older children pick up sex workers (prostitutes) 
during the night from night spots in and around the city. Some of the boys have 
developed a fairly stable relationship with some prostitutes who happen to be under 
the care of some older women. As has been noted above, these are women who are 
at an age when their attractiveness as prostitutes is on the wane and they collect 
some younger girls through whom they can continue to earn money. It is a brothel 
type of arrangement. With the HIV/AIDS epidemic, more men seem to prefer 
young girls toolderprostitutes who they suspect to be HI V positive. "Aunties" cash 
in well on this. Furthermore, as a street boy grows older he may approach an 
"auntie" to find him a wife, in order to form a relatively stable relationship and have 
children (see also Bourdillon, 1994:519). 
As has been hinted above, some girls are under the protection of males. This is 
true for homeless girls in and around the city centre who are vulnerable to men, and 
therefore need an influential man to protect them. Such men through the care of 
younger girls earn money as the girls pay for protection. The man who offers 
protection to the girls also charges other men and young boys who want to have sex 
with the girl. Some of the men who offer protection to girls are reported to sexually 
abuse the girls they are protecting as well as the young boys that come looking for 
girls for sex. It is reported that a boy can be forced by the "uncle" to submit himself 
for sex before he is given a girl. 
In some cases older street boys live with street girls as husband and wives. This 
often happens in settlements of the homeless people in and around the city centre. 
The boys take responsibility for the security of the girls, ensuring that they have 
adequate food. In return, the boys are accorded all the treatment that befits a 
husband, including emotional and sexual favours. However, the fact that these girls 
and boys maintain "marital" relationships does not mean that they do not practice 
prostitution. On the contrary, the boys especially, seem to accept prostitution on the
AIDS-risk Patterns & Knowledge Among Street Children: Harare 69 
part of girls as a normal income-generating activity for both of them. The money 
earned by the girl through prostitution is used by the "couple" to sustain themselves. 
While not being engaged in prostitution, the same girls ("wives" to some 
street boys) can be passed around among their male counterparts. 
Each street boy is at risk through all of the above means thereby making the risk 
very significant indeed. According to Jackson (1992) anal sex is generally more 
riskier than vaginal penetration, while oral sex also carries a risk but is believed to 
be less risky than the penetration of the vagina and rectum. Any sexual act that tears 
the skin or mucosal membranes and thus draw blood and other body fluids is 
considered risky. It is thus termed unsafe sex. The full definition of unsafe sex as 
put forward by Jackson (1992:58) is, "...penetrative sexual intercourse with no 
condom involving an exchange of body fluids through contact of the skins between 
penis and vagina, anus or mouth." 
Knowledge of HIV/AIDS by the children 
The children seem reasonably informed about HIV/AIDS, which some of them 
refer to as "go-slow."This is a descriptive term of the slow and painful death which 
literally refers to the wasting away of the flesh and life. Other children euphemistically 
termed AIDS "chirwere chemazuva ano" (today's disease). The children 
know that AIDS is an incurable disease and are aware that it is predominantly 
transmitted sexually and through needles for intravenous drug injections as well as 
razor blades if used communally, and that condoms are good to use but have their 
own limitations. Despite this fairly good understanding of HIV/AIDS, some of the 
children's knowledge was problematic. The problematic facets of their knowledge 
concerns outright misconceptions as well as incorrect knowledge. 
Misconceptions 
Misconceptions covered the following issues below. Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS 
was attributed to the following characteristics: 
• having casual sex with particular groups of people, like homosexuals 
(mangochani), prostitutes and those with HIV/AIDS features, rather than 
a concern about the critical mechanisms of sexual transmission. Surprisingly 
the children did not include themselves within these groups of people, 
although they have many sexual partners. Related to the above was the 
misconception that someone weak, losing hair, with sores in the mouth, etc, 
is often an AIDS sufferer. Yet the person could be suffering from something 
else, or malnutrition. This meant that the children at times could identify
70 Linda Dube 
someone suffering from HIV/AIDS, but could also incorrectly diagnose the 
illness. HIV can also lie dormant for many years enabling infectious but 
asymptomatic people to appear healthy; 
• the children expressed fear in touching someone with AIDS; the same 
applied to kissing, using the same utensils and sharing food. 
However, in the final analysis the children's misconceptions are very much 
consistent with those of mainstream society in Zimbabwe. For example Moyo, et 
al, (1993) in a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice (KAP) survey in the City of 
Harare amongst 2,109 adults noted the following: 
"A quarter of all the respondents ....stated that they would evict lodgers 
with AIDS, would avoid either neighbour, co-worker or school mate with 
AIDS"(p 45). 
"The level of stigma against people with HIV I AIDS in the community is 
high. The groups which most people thought were at risk of being infected 
with HIVwere prostitutes and promiscuous people. These responses which 
emphasise promiscuity stigmatise people with HIV/AIDS. More women 
(71%) than men (65%) stated that promiscuous people were at risk of 
catching AIDS and more women were also less supportive of people with 
AIDS'(p 48). 
Furthermore, Moyo, et al, refer to a study in Chilimanzi done by the Catholic 
Development Commission and note the following: 
"The CADEC study in Chilimanzifoundthat80% of the women interviewed 
stated that they would prefer AIDS patients to die in hospital" (p 46). 
In a way the children's misconceptions and those of the Zimbabwean society at 
large seem to be very much consistent with those of the global development of the 
understanding of the disease. In the early stages of the disease, it was common for 
it to be referred to as a disease of homosexual men and later on prostitutes were 
included - while of now it is very clear that it is a disease of people. In a way once 
more, this makes the children's knowledge fairly good, despite that they live on the 
fringes of society. As Barnett & Blaikie (1992:4) put it: 
"While at first the epidemic may affect some population sub-groups more 
than others, the passing of time will ensure that its distribution within the 
population alters. Thus what was in North America and Europe, once seen
AJDS-risk Patterns & Knowledge Among Street Children: Harare 71 
as a disease of male homosexuals, haemophiliacs and intravenous drug 
users, is increasingly becoming a disease to which every sexually active 
person may be exposed, or which may affect those undergoing or practising 
surgery." 
The fairly good but problematic knowledge of the children covered the following 
issues: 
All children knew that AIDS exists and that there is no cure for it. But some felt 
that they will not die of it if they contract it, because they will use traditional 
medicines. Some boys said that there are older women who they sleep with after 
which they are given traditional medicine to cure STDs and they believe the same 
women can cure AIDS. 
With particular reference to sex, the children were not clear that it is the sexual 
act which is important rather than who it is you are having sex with. They were not 
aware that it is impossible to tell who has AIDS or not and that the sexual act is 
important, especially penetrative sex as opposed to "safe" sex. Thus it has been 
important for the children to know that it is not just having sex but the nature of the 
sexual act. 
With reference to the use of condoms, the children were aware that condoms 
have their own limitations. The children knew that effective use of condoms 
depends on how one uses or wears them, and how one stores them. Furthermore, 
condoms may not be readily available, and where available the children cannot 
access them due to social expectations that condoms should not be given to 
children, which can be an indicator of our society's sexual privacy and modesty, 
which unfortunately seems to carry with it moral overtones. The children were, 
however, not aware that condoms are first and foremost a birth control measure. 
Use of condoms in the prevention and control of STDs/HI V/AIDS is a secondary 
stop-gap measure to minimise risks but does not totally eliminate risk. Thus the 
children have a right to know that condoms are the only alternative that exists at 
the moment should one decide to get into a risky sexual act. The key factor is to 
minimise sexual partners by sticking to one lifelong faithful mutual relationship 
(but recognising that this may be difficult in their circumstances). 
Conclusions 
From a rational perspective, the most effective way of coping with the AIDS 
pandemic is to change sexual behaviour as well as avoiding possible infection from 
contaminated hypodermic syringes and other related gadgets. In order to achieve 
these, it is necessary to have an accurate explanation of how the disease is 
transmitted. Information has to be translated into knowledge and then into action,
72 Linda Dube 
which is principally behaviour change. However, this may not be an adequate 
account of how people actually deal with these risks. Here I do not mean refraining 
from sex and drugs, which might be unrealistic courses of action, but practising 
safer sex and drug-taking. In reality most of us cope with risks through a 
combination of rational and non-rational responses. 
Education on the dangers of AIDS and seeking to minimise risks of HIV 
infection can only succeed in the context of overall personal development of the 
child. Wecannotexpectchildren to protect themselves if they have no sense of their 
own worth and self-esteem. Furthermore, we cannot expect the children to achieve 
this instantly. Any meaningful programme should go beyond meeting immediate 
health needs by also tackling the broader issues of why children are living on the 
streets. The threat of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, increased drug 
addiction, etc, as have been spelt out in this document, cannot be separated from 
lack of choice and opportunity. Our work should in the long term be towards 
improving the general health and self-image of the children. Giving children the 
knowledge and the facilities to improve this, will increase their self-respect as well 
as reduce risks to HIV/AIDS infection. Thus, in order not to moralise and overpublicise 
the children as being at very high risk, we need to discuss safer sex in the 
context of the children's other concerns such as broader health issues apart from 
HIV/AIDS, personal safety, economic survival, housing, drug-taking, legal and 
otherrights. If we encourage condom use by the children, we should emphasise that 
this applies to all sexual contacts with friends, adult clients and strangers. 
Behavioural change on the part of the children can only come from promoting 
self-worth and creating an environment where children can make informed 
choices. This comes about when we also respect them as human beings, and treat 
them without any prejudices and moral judgements. 
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