Sikhethimpilo, (translated to mean 'we choose life'), through its 240 volunteer carers spread across the Matobo district of 35,000 people, select children most affected by HIV/AIDS to attend the camps.

They are divided into two categories - the 10-12 year olds and the 13-18 year olds to go through individual and group counselling sessions.

They are also taught the basics of HIV/AIDS, how to cope with stigma and bereavement.

"The main thrust of programme is to provide psychosocial support and life skills training for the orphans," said one of the camps organisers, Meck Sibanda.

"Most of the children have been referred to as AIDS orphans and even at school other children ostracise them. So we instil in them confidence, so that they do not lose self esteem," he said.

Almost a million children in Zimbabwe have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

Some have nursed their parents until death but have not been given the opportunity to deal with the psychological impact of such experiences.

Many are not even told that their parents have died until they get to school where other children mock them that their parents died of AIDS and therefore they must be infected with HIV.

Traditional practice in the area decrees that when a parent dies, the children are removed from the homestead to a faraway village so they do not witness the funeral.

They are told that their parents have emigrated to neighbouring South Africa or Botswana.

"Here we give the children the opportunity to express their emotions and how to deal with them," Sibanda said.

Because they are shunned in their communities, at the centre they realise they are not alone in their situation. Many of them make friends during camping, something they lack back home.

"Here I have found a friend," says Senzeni, 11, who has lost both parents and does not even remember her mother who died while she was still an infant.

"They hardly have friends back at their villages, so this is the place where they feel loved and it boosts their self-esteem," said Israel Nkomo, a youth co-ordinator.

Their first session after arrival is to draw and write about themselves. This helps the teachers establish the opinion they have of themselves. In a caption under her drawing, Yukelia wrote: 'I hate those who hate me for nothing'.

The feelings expressed in the pictures are those of sadness and anger.

They are taught that they may be different from other children, but each one of them is special.

Through dance, music and games, they are taught children's rights - the right to food, shelter, education and clothing. But hardly half of the 33 camping this holdiday wear shoes.

In suggestion boxes, provided for them to write anything they want to express anonymously, "hunger, school fees and clothes are the issues that dominate", according to Sibanda.

After the emotional and psychosocial counselling, the 13-18 years olds, many of whom are heading their families, go through practical skills training.

The teenage household heads are trained to look after their younger siblings through such skills as housekeeping, gardening, small livestock rearing, cookery and sewing clothes.

The project which started in 1998, is the brainchild of a Catholic nun, Sister Ludbirga. So far 1,800 orphans have been through the centre, and the number of orphans is increasing according to Sibanda.

After the camps, Sikhethimpilo refers children with special problems to psychiatrists or the government social welfare department.

Follow-up visits are conducted regularly to guard against neglect and abuse by relatives or neighbours.