out the cabin for ten years. I was getting 350,000 Zimbabwe dollars per month for rent plus water and now I have lost it.111 Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that those children who went to the rural areas with their parents found enrollment into new schools difficult without a transfer letter from their previous school. The nature of the evictions, carried out with little or no notice meant that few parents were able to secure transfer letters for their children. A number of schools and crèches were also reportedly destroyed during the evictions in and around Harare.112 People living with HIV/AIDS Almost 25 percent of the adult population aged 15-49 in Zimbabwe—a total of around 1.6 million people—are affected by HIV.113 The high rate of HIV infections in the urban areas has resulted in the formation of HIV/AIDS centers that provide home based care to those living with HIV/AIDS, and counseling and medication. HIV prevalence rates have in the last ten years alone reduced life expectancy from sixty-two to about thirtyeight and a half years.114 The evictions led to the disruption of scores of HIV/AIDS home based care and treatment programs around the country. In carrying out the evictions, the government failed to provide for the care of chronically ill persons including those living with HIV/AIDS many of who were sleeping in the open or had moved to the rural areas. One HIV/AIDS home based care centre official informed Human Rights Watch that fifteen out of twenty of its home based care volunteers, all of whom were HIV positive, were evicted and rendered homeless in Harare.115 None of the center’s twenty-seven child clients on free anti-retroviral drugs, turned up to receive new supplies of antiretroviral drugs since the eviction program started. Matthew, a home based care volunteer informed Human Rights Watch that five of his clients had died in the open in Mutare after being evicted from their homes: 111 Human Rights Watch interview, Harare, June 25, 2005. 112 Human Rights Watch interviews with victims, lawyers and local MPs, Harare, June 2005. 113 UNAIDS: http://www.unaids.org/en/geographical+area/by+country/zimbabwe.asp (accessed August 31, 2005). 114 World Development Indicators database, April 2005. 115 Human Rights Watch interview, Director of Home based care Centre, Harare, July 1, 2005.