Project Clocolan, Free, State, South Africa
Children of Africa orphaned by AIDS, some HIV positive, some suffering with AIDS, are resilient despite their tragic circumstances. Miraculously, many survive hunger, disease, the daily scavenge for food, the emotional loss of parents, the absence of a place to call home, and total abandonment to the streets.
Infants exposed to disease and sequential abuse, roam the streets, farm lands, and garbage dumps, in attempts to survive in the most basic of ways.
2.5 million children in South Africa are orphans, 1.2 million as a result of AIDS. Source United Nations statistics.
In the town of Clocolan located in a semi rural area of Free State South Africa 28 orphaned children ages 3 to 16 live crowded into a tiny tin shack, with packed dirt for a floor.
Without running water, sanitation, electric or heat of any kind, and with little to eat, the children survive, thanks to the care of one remarkable Sutu woman Anisha, and her husband Daniel. Since 2006, the number of children collected from the local streets and surrounding village has increased from 18 to 28 as parents become too ill to care for their children, and then die. These statistics are a grim representation of the much larger continent wide problem.
Without "an address" children do not have access to social services, healthcare or government funding assistance providing food, housing, education and life's essentials. Project Clocolan will house Anisha and the 28 children, providing not only their first home, but also "an address" and access to these services.
My Painted House Foundation's Project Clocolan involves the acquisition of a 3 acre home site and a move in condition large house. Our plan is to create a model for all future projects. Each property must contain sufficient land to cultivate an orchard and food garden; accommodate dairy goats and chickens, develop a play field; work shops for entrepreneurial projects; and a small school house.
Once children have a roof over their heads, education is next, closely followed by entrepreneurial skills training to empower the children, break the cycle of poverty, and give them choices in their futures.
What we have accomplished so far:
Acquisition of the home-site
Purchase of 8 dairy goats, which the children milk daily
Planting of donated fruit trees
Commenced cultivation of an organic food garden
Repair of the chicken coop for the 24 laying hens
Purchase of mattresses
What your donation will do for these children: see budget page
Thank you for your support!