Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - March 7, 2003
She and her children were thrown out by her husband's family. But her concerns now are about what will happen to her children if she is not around anymore.
"The future of these lives, if I die myself... I do not know who will take care of these young children of mine."
Hers is a predicament faced by millions of other women, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/Aids infection rates among women now exceed those for men.
Such is the impact of Aids on communities, that cultural and family histories are being lost and a whole generation of children are left orphaned.
Memory boxes
But trying to break the taboos and silence surrounding Aids, the Zimbabwe Red Cross have been promoting the use of memory boxes.
Mothers are helped to communicate with their children by making a treasure chest of family photographs, letters, stories and history.
The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) says the project helps lessen the trauma for a parent who knows she will leave a children orphaned by allowing her to communicate with them after her death.
It also keeps alive the memory of a mother for children and helps maintain a sense of history and belonging
Talk
It also encourages open talk about the disease - as with Gladys's children. "They always take my memory book, read, revise and talk to each other," she says.
Lexa Samugadza, a single mother of three young girls, has the support of her family, but she also worries about what could happen to her children.
"I think I wrote in my memory book that they must keep away from men and concentrate on their school, and then after that they must learn to keep each other close," she says.
Lexa's 25-year-old sister, Adeline, works for the Red Cross HIV/Aids programme and argues that, in order to protect women they need to be empowered to fend for themselves.
In sub-Saharan Africa, women now account for 58% of adults with HIV/Aids.
The IFRC say much more work is needed to lessen women's vulnerability to the disease and to ensure cultural continuity between generations.
On International Women's Day, they are calling for women to be given a greater say in the battle against HIV/Aids.
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