Help for AIDS orphans

South Africa: our project covers an area on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The 40 percent HIV rate here is very high. About half of those infected are provided with state-financed anti-retroviral drugs. However, much more support is required to cope with the approximately seven million people, who are HIV-positive, and the 1,000 new infections every day. The country also has a large number of orphans and children, whose parents have become seriously ill and died at a young age. In addition, the unemployment rate is high with a lack of prospects for young people and young adults.

Help now by becoming a child sponsor! With just one euro per day, you can support a child in need in South Africa through a sponsorship and receive regular progress reports.

The children cared for by the project are often AIDS orphans or children from low-income families.

In order to bring about long-term improvements in the children’s situation, the work of our local partner aims to provide holistic support and care for the children.

This involves improving their financial reality as well as their physical, cognitive and emotional well-being and includes the active involvement of their families. Whenever a child or family is admitted to the project, a member of staff subsequently makes regular home visits to the family/household to ensure the provision of sufficient, appropriate support.

We provide support, for example, with applications for state subsidies or the creation of a vegetable garden that helps establish a reliable supply of sufficient, nutritious food. The provision of advice and allocation of materials required (fences, tools, seeds, etc.) can lead to significant improvements in children’s nutrition and care.

Regardless of whether the children themselves are carriers of the HIV virus, live with HIV-positive family members or have physical problems (e.g. malnutrition): their health situation is evaluated, treated where required and continuously observed through home visits. In addition to regular support, we also carry out educational work, for instance by providing advice on appropriate nutrition and hygiene for children.

Alongside this care and support, helping children through their grieving process and creating a strong emotional foundation is also important. Despite their youth, many of them have already experienced difficulties and the loss of one or both parents. As well as regular home visits, these children, therefore, receive emotional support in children’s groups (for seven to ten year-olds) or in life skills programmes (for all aged eleven and over). Here, they are helped to come to terms with their experiences and develop positive coping strategies instead of resorting to destructive mechanisms (e.g. violence, drug or alcohol abuse).