Care work in an AIDS orphanage - South Africa

Product Details

The AIDS Orphanage is one of South Africa’s biggest independent, non-profit organisations caring for abandoned, abused and HIV-positive children. The orphanage identified an urgent need for a paediatric hospice in the Cape Town area, as the number of babies born HIV-positive has soared over recent years.

A paediatric hospice was recently opened for terminally ill, abandoned, abused and orphaned children in the Helderberg region outside Cape Town.

The objective of the hospice is to care for children living with HIV and AIDS, whilst supporting their families, in order to reduce the incidence of AIDS-related child abandonment and neglect.

The orphanage offers residential care for up to 26 children at any one time (from birth to seven years) who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and who cannot be cared for by their families. It is also an emergency place of safety for children who have been abandoned, orphaned or abused. These children are returned to the community in as short a time as possible through reunification with biological families, foster care or adoption.

Volunteers assist the hospice staff by stimulating and playing with the children. They also assist with the transport of the children, taking those who are well enough on excursions, and any other general help and administration around the hospice.

Volunteer accommodation is in shared apartments in the historic town of Stellenbosch. This wonderful, vibrant town has plenty to do, with 17,000 students, over 80 restaurants and pubs and based in the center of the wine producing area.