This study is supported by the World Forum Foundation, the University of Namibia and the Centre for Social Justice and Social Change of the University of Western Sydney. It represents a first step to corroborate research into HIV/AIDS with current knowledge about the outcome of experiences during early life, in the Namibian context. Using quantitative and qualitative data, the study provides an insight into what it means to be young, orphaned, infected or affected in other ways by HIV/AIDS.