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South Africans are starting to realise the impact of HIV and AIDS. More and more effort is been put to prevent HIV but slowly we are experiencing some of the fruit of this disease. It has left most of home with no parents and has created most of orphans and made some of children vulnerable. Kids can be:

• Maternal orphans (mother has died)
• Paternal orphans (father has died)
• Double orphans (both parents have died)

By 2003, 15-million children had been orphaned by HIV/AIDS worldwide. About 80% of these children live in Sub-Saharan Africa and an estimated 1,100,000 in South Africa. In addition, millions of children live in households with sick and dying family members. Although not yet orphaned, these children are also severely affected by HIV/AIDS and may need psychosocial support. Since then the number of orphans in South Africa is growing fast. A UNAIDS estimate sets the total at two million, half of whom have lost their mother, father or both parents to AIDS.

About 40,000 of the nation’s households headed by children receive home and community-based care, but thousands more remain unreached. 

Many children do not have birth certificates and so are not eligible for social grants.  Others are not even aware that they are entitled to assistance.  Most orphans are taken care of by extended families, many of whom are themselves struggling under the strain, especially those headed by elderly people and women who already live at the edge of poverty. Orphans and vulnerable children tend to live in poorer households and their school enrolment rates tend to be lower than for other children.

This project started in 2007 and it is made possible by PEPFAR and USAID through CINDI network. The overall aim of this project is to improve the quality of life of the identified Orphans and Vulnerable Children in greater Edendale & Elandskop areas through various activities and services. Some of the activities and services to be provided under the project will include the following: HIV prevention through behaviour change workshops; psychosocial support of OVCs through structured group therapy; child protection interventions that include assisting OVCs obtain legal identity documents & protection from abuse; assisting them to access grants from the Department of Social Development; educational assistance through facilitating enrolment in schools, negotiations for school fees exemptions; and facilitating access to health services. These services will either be directly provided by YFC through the trained volunteers and YFC full-time staff or will be provided through linkages and referrals to the other program partners and other agencies providing the relevant services. The project consist of 3 department that complement each other, edutainment team- they run HIV prevention in a powerful way, Facilitator’s Team – run structured groups in 12 high schools and the OUTREACH team that work in the community, following up cases from the school to homes.