It's hard to imagine, but South Africa has an estimated 2 million orphans! That's why Kids Caring 4 Kids was so excited to help build and outfit the Kerus Orphan Care Center near Pretoria with our partner, Kerus Global Education.

Welcoming crisis-weary children into a place of help and hope, this community-based center offers life-changing support to the AIDS orphans of Soshanguve, a community known for extreme poverty. Here, a staggering number of children live in child-headed households. The only meal of the day for many has been a small bowl of porridge they get at school.

The Kerus Orphan Care Center has begun with 50 school-age children carefully selected by the neighboring school and will expand to 100 orphans who will receive services every day of the year: daily meals, monthly food parcels to take home, day care for pre-school children, health care, grief counseling, character training, and the opportunity to learn skills in gardening, computers and handicrafts. Strongly supported by the principal of a local school and church, the Center (which is not an orphanage, because it's so much more!) is a place of HOPE that will shape kids' lives for years to come.