WHAT WE DO: Children's Homes in Africa
 
AFRICA: RESCUING CHILDREN ORPHANED BY WAR AND HIV/AIDS
 



"Parts of Sub-Saharan Africa are undergoing
a tidal wave of orphaning,
in varying degrees
due to AIDS."

Former Unicef Executive Director Carol Bellamy




Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some 45 million orphaned children. That’s more than the total number of all children under the age of 18 living in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden combined.

Nearly a third of these children have lost their parents to AIDS. AIDS is particularly brutal to children because it often wipes out the entire family network. Since the extended family is typically the only safety net these children have, AIDS orphans are critically vulnerable. Without family members to care for them, these children will almost always end up on the streets – where they face terrible odds for survival.

They will eat other people’s garbage.
They will drink water that is dirty and full of disease.
They will have no safe place to sleep.
They will have no protection from the elements –
…or from unscrupulous adults. Many end up exploited and abused as prostitutes or as child slave laborers.
 

Few have any hope of reaching adulthood.

Children’s Hunger Relief seeks to rescue these desperately vulnerable children. We currently support children’s homes in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda – where some 25% of all AIDS orphans on the continent live. By the end of the year we will be supporting homes in Zambia as well, where another 5% of AIDS orphans live.

We also support two homes in Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of children have been orphaned by the region’s brutal civil war.

There are 12 million AIDS orphans living in sub-Saharan Africa today. That’s 80% of the 15 million AIDS orphans worldwide. Without someone to help them, these children have little hope for survival against the dangers that stalk them -- including hunger, disease, exploitation and violence. They will die.

With the help of our donors, we provide food, health care, clothing and education to these critically vulnerable children.
It takes so little to save a child. With your help, we could do so much more.

"We are very grateful for the work of Children's Hunger Relief Fund in its efforts to provide abandoned and orphaned children, particularly AIDS orphans, with nutritional assistance, clean water, education materials, and medical services."
Osita Jroku, Chair, Committee on African Affairs, United Nations Association


It takes so little to give an abandoned child a new life of hope. The average cost to provide room, board and education for a child in one of our homes is approximately $30 per month.

 

Children’s Hunger Relief Fund Project Focus Areas:

Kenya: 2 million orphaned children (13% of all children under 18); 900,000 orphaned by AIDS.
Rwanda: 850,000 orphaned children (19% of all children); 200,000 orphaned by AIDS
South Africa: 2.5 million orphaned children (14% of all children); 1.3 million orphaned by AIDS.
Sudan: 1.3 million orphaned children (8% of all children); AIDS figures unavailable.
Uganda: 2.1 million orphaned children (13% of all children); 1 million orphaned by AIDS.
Zambia : 1.1 million orphaned children (19% of all children); 630,000 orphaned by AIDS.
 
 
 

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