Seventy-six-year-old Kesentseng Seitshiro of Tlokweng is a living testimony to the failure of support systems of the society. She has never lived a happy life since the death of her daughter in 1999. 

Her late daughter was the breadwinner and her death left the whole family in the lurch. Seitshiro does not only grieve over the death of her daughter; she has a burden of bringing up the two boys she left behind. She said she only got support from her relatives during the funeral and since then, no one has bothered to check how she is coping. 

Though she gets food rations from the council, they never sustain the family for the whole month. "I share my pension with the whole family. Two of my sons are not working so I still support them," she said. She cries that the unreliable rains make it difficult for her to embark on agriculture. Seitshiro's case is not peculiar.

So many grandparents especially in rural areas face the same challenge as her. Child focused indicators from UNICEF have shown that 34 percent of orphans in Botswana live with their grandparents even when one parent is alive and that 41 percent of maternal orphans live with their grandparents. The indicators have shown that close to 56 percent of these orphans live with heads of households that are not economically active.

The UNICEF report indicate that psychological and economic distress that orphans face might lead to risky behaviour such as unsafe sexual practices and substance abuse. "These children are also at increased risk of discrimination, denial of property inheritance rights, abuse, neglect. This can further jeopardise their chances to finish school," says the report. 

Bringing up children has proved a daunting challenge, especially for grandparents and the old who no longer have the strength and coping mechanisms, University of Botswana Social Work lecturer Log Raditlhokwa has said. He said that in the past, bringing up children was a communal responsibility. But the individualistic approach that has swept mankind is likely to make it difficult for elderly grandparents to bring up their grandchildren, especially in the era of HIV/AIDS. 

Raditlhokwa said the grandparents who have the responsibility of bringing up their grand children are likely to find it difficult unlike the past. "Due to the HIV scourge, a lot of orphans are left under the care of their grandparents when their parents die," he said. Raditlhokwa asserted that the elderly are sick and have limited coping methods because of lack of support from the community. "This can actually increase stress levels for the elderly people." 

He said that grandparents might not be able to bring up children properly with the demands of today's society. Raditlhokwa said the nation should take time and reflect on the current set up to avoid breakdown in society. 

"We are increasingly becoming individualistic and it's not healthy." He said society should learn to support each other and more people should volunteer to offer support to the grieving families. "If we go on like this, we will end failing to cope." 

A Selebi-Phikwe based social worker shares the same sentiments as Raditlhokwa. He said that most of the AIDS orphans that they deal with are left under the care of their grandparents. "Ideally when one reaches a particular age, they no longer have coping mechanisms and instead should be taken care of. It is unfortunate that grandparents have a huge task of bringing up their grandchildren whose parents have died." 

He said that though this has always been the case, the AIDS scourge is said to have worsened the situation hence making it more burdensome for the elderly. "It is in this case that they would need psychological support. The grieving children too would need this kind of support as well," he said. However, he said that elderly people handle grief much better than the younger generation. 

A clinical psychologist, Kefentse Mzwinila said the ability of grandparents to bring up the young ones differ from person to person. He said bringing up a child is all about giving them love, support and nurturing them. Some grandparents have proved they offer these better than the parents of the children. He said the gravity of bringing up the grandchildren would also differ from families depending on availability of resources and the stability of their homes. "There are grandparents who are financially stable than their children which place them in a better position to raise up grandchildren."