We Have Reached the 1 Million Mark

Helping Hands has served 1.152 million meals to orphans and other vulnerable children.

A vulnerable child is one who lives in an indigent household and has typically lost one parent. The term "indigent" is understood to mean the lack of necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter. In South Africa, a poverty line of about US $100 per month per household is regarded as the "ultra poverty line" and is used by the national government to denote an indigent household.

It is estimated that 22 million people in South Africa survive on less than about $20 per month.

The new South African government has struggled, amongst other things, to compete in a global market resulting in huge job losses rather than job creation. Added to that, the effect that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has had on sub-Saharan Africa is devastating. Already poor households lose the little income they have when breadwinners get sick or die. Then there is the extra burden on the extended families as they take in the children left behind by those who have died. Fifteen years after the election of a democratic South African government and Apartheid has ended, and despite gains made by the present government in terms of providing housing, water and electricity to previously disadvantaged people, the poor remain as large a group as ever with their suffering as bad as ever and in some areas perhaps worse.

More than half of South Africa's children (55%) live in the "indigent" category.

Structural unemployment has become chronic with 42% of South Africa's children living in a household where nobody is employed. These children face discrimination, isolation and extreme hardship. They typically do not have access to the resources necessary to grow, be healthy, live in safety, become educated and develop their full potential.

This is why we provide a daily meal to the children in the villages where we serve. This is why we provide free preschools and free learning centers and free grief counseling and free care to the sick. This is why we do what we do. Somebody needs to do something - we believe WE are that "somebody".

Our next goal is by 2013 to have served 2 million meals.

With your continued support, we can certainly do this.

With warm regards,
Michelle Tessendorf
Helping Hands in Africa