Huggy Bears

children who have long journeys or can't afford public transport. Many more young teenagers now visit the centre on their own, and getting a taxi ride

back home in the evening obviously helps.
Georgina has a teenage 18-year old girl who loves visiting B&S both on her own and with her mum. Georgina says: "I wrote a letter to my daughter back in Zimbabwe telling her I was positive. She doesn't have HIV. It was one of the hardest things of my life. She came over to join me here - we're still fighting for her immigration status. I use B&S a lot, and I wanted her to see the people here and know how they cope. Since she's been here, she's become a lot more outspoken."
Barbara is another single mother with a young boy of 21 months. She has finally got him into a local council nursery, but still values bringing him to B&S. "I had a lot of problems on my own in London. I'm Italian and couldn't tell my family about my status. Even cancer is a dirty word in Italy. It's good for my boy to socialise with other children at B&S, especially ones of different ages. I've also got involved in volunteering and translation work and I can enjoy the complementary therapies available and the computer facilities."
For a lot of positive single parents with young babies, the job of bringing up children is difficult enough. The additional problem of being HIV positive sometimes gets lost in the background.
Where B&S really helps is in providing bundles of hugs, a personal support, a

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discretionary transport service, and complete sense of safety.
Names have been changed above.