Of orphans, arks and Noah...

You decide...

Noah released some sobering statistics about our country's children,when one considers that by 2015 there would be more than 2 million orphans.

The problem is that the effects of the Aids pandemic can be seen today, while the orphan tide generally following this, and its exponential – just like Aids.

It is estimated that it would cost in the region of R1.4bn per year to house these children. Translate this into providing just 10m2 per child and this would cost the economy in the region of R40bn to house these kids and this for a mere 10m2 per child.

So Noah attempts to ensure that the orphans remain in their homes. But what of the trauma that the kids have been through, as they were nurtured by their terminally ill parents?

Noah estimates that it would take 40 000 social workers to provide counseling for just two hours per day. The fact is that there are just 9000 registered social workers operating in SA at the moment.

Statistic: In 2004 there are already 800 000 of these orphans.

Statistic: Nurturing orphans of Aids for Humanity (Noah).

Statistic: 100 000 staff would be needed to look after the orphans, if all decisions were to be taken

An effective approach used is to train members of the community to run successful programmes based on a UN-accepted best practice manual, which essentially allows frees the care-giver of daytime responsibilities.

One of the main issues facing foster parents is that they can’t take part in an economically productive life because they are looking after orphans or their younger siblings. One of the solutions is a Noah run resource centre that provides skills training for learner aged orphans.

There are thousands of volunteers taking part, with more than 70 communities in the network, and 6000 kids already benefiting directly.