Foundation Backbone and Helping Hands

Being back in South Africa has certainly driven home a few realities which are easier to ignore when you live on a different continent. Being faced, for example, with the issue of AIDS and the implications it has for our country. For most of my life AIDS was something we were taught about and which we heard about and basically that we read about in the news. We knew about AIDS orphans, but we never really did anything about it, after all, what can one person do? But since I've been back I have realised the seriousness of the issue as if I were encountering it for the first time. I have felt a burden for these children since my housemate started telling me more about her involvement with an orphanage called Helping Hands. My heart has been stirring to do something productive since I heard about these beautiful children and the seemingly hopeless situation they find themselves in. So we have been compelled to act. We are in the process of registering as a section 21 company- that is basically a non-profit organization- and we are calling ourselves Foundation Backbone (which was inspired by Joyce Meyer saying we need to have Backbone, not Wishbone). Our vision is ultimately to partner with as many charities and organizations as possible in order to help the children in our country that are affected by AIDS. You have no idea how it affects you getting involved in the lives of these kids. They are just gorgeous. So full of life and hope and joy that you can't believe that they all come from backgrounds so horrible they are enough to make the strongest of you feel sick to your stomach. I know I have never felt so full of life and yet so broken and humbled all at the same time. Take a look at a few of these pictures. They might give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.