 Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity
HIV/Aids is rampant in Southern Africa – and it is the little children that suffer: this debilitating disease wipes out whole communities in the rural areas, leaving a trail of orphans in its wake.
But Noah’s Ark is making a difference. This registered charity provides ravaged communities with the means to at least feed the thousands of children daily.
And when Aids hit Johannesburg, the City of Gold, Noah’s Ark made a new plan: they joined forces with three elite schools and established the first inner-city Ark in one of Joburg’s most impoverished suburbs, Yeoville.
Yeoville’s Noah’s Ark has been home to 150 Aids orphans for the past three years. This is the haven the little ones can escape to after school; the haven where they get a belly full of nutritious food; the haven where they learn life skills. Simple skills like saying thank you; eating at a table; the importance of washing your hands; growing your own vegetables; expressing your feelings through art.
But it is an uphill battle.
Yes, they have money to feed their orphans. Every day they provide one wholesome meal. In most cases the only meal that child will get for the day.
No, there is no money for chairs, tables, books, blankets…
The house Yeoville’s Ark is renting from the local church is dilapidated. It needs more than just a coat of paint. Much more. Two toilets must service all 150 kids – but only one is used, because no-one can stomach the grimy one in the broken down outbuilding.
The coarse wooden floors are the children’s tables and chairs. There they eat, do homework, play. Because there is no money to buy real chairs and real tables. And curtains are a luxury.
But they never complain. This is their home. The home where there’s always food, always laughter, always that quick hug they so long for. Because they know: when the sun sets they must leave, some to stay with friends, some for the orphanage.
But they’ll be back tomorrow… Because for these orphans Yeoville’s Noah’s Ark is a place where they can just be normal kids; loved kids; kids with hope. Just for today.
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