“Teenagers' Convention”:
30 teens from Qwaqwa, 40 teens from Mpumaze and 27 teens from Ermelo making it a total of 97 teens headed to the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve for our second teenagers' convention that took place from the 5th to the 7th of October. This convention is part of Module 2 of My Future, My Responsibility financed by Bouygues Construction's Foundation Terre Plurielle, Water Solutions Southern Africa, Michelin Tyres South Africa, as well as the Accor Foundation. It is aimed at developing our teens' presentation and public speaking skills as well as their ability to analyse and synthesise... Read more
“Extreme Sports Camp”:
40 of our Bushbuckridge beneficiaries spent the month preparing for our second extreme sports camp as part of Module 4 of My Future, My Responsibility (funded by the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund). The purpose of the extreme sports camp is to help our teens know that they can overcome their fears by participating in extreme sports. What they achieve is, knowing that that they can go tubing in a river or hiking for 3hours which can be gruelling... read more
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Children of the Dawn - Who we are
South Africa is one of the worst affected countries in the world, as far as the HIV/AIDS epidemic goes. With some 5.6 million people living with HIV, South Africa is the country with the largest number of infections in the world. In 2004, UNAIDS (United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS) estimated that 25.2% of pregnant urban women (15-24) were carrying the virus.
The dramatic increase of the number of orphans, as a direct consequence of the pandemic, is often forgotten. According to the South African Child Gauge 2008/2009, South Africa counts some 3'700'000 orphans (0-17) having lost either parent or both. The projections show three quarters of the children have lost a parent to the AIDS pandemic. One must understand that most AIDS orphans are not infected themselves.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic leaves behind a devastating trail of suffering and despair. Family structures are destroyed and income flows disappear. Even before death stage, children are most hit by the consequences of the disease. Their schooling, health, and socialisation processes are at stake. More globally, the human and financial losses incurred through the pandemic put the young South African democracy at risk.
Considering the scale of the pandemic, institutional care of these orphans cannot be a sustainable solution. The solution lies at community level.
Despite or due to the limited capacity of the South African government, rural communities have mobilised themselves and their community to find innovative solutions to the problems created by the pandemic, and particularly to help AIDS orphans. However, these pro-active and motivated informal teams often lack financial and technical capacities to achieve their potential. Children of the Dawn has been created to change this situation. We take a community approach to orphan and vulnerable children care, by empowering communities in their mobilisation around affected children.
