Amongst the poverty of the Soweto Township, also home to the houses of Nobel Peace Prize winners Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, a small orphanage struggles to make ends meet.  Huge portions of essential funding are assumed to come from non profits and too often go unmet.

The children here need the basics: clothes, food, and shelter.  The same as us.  The difference is that if left unattended, they won’t receive it.  These children are in the right place.  They aren’t roaming the streets, though a wait list requires many to do so, and they still need our help.
A nursery where children run up to you with their arms up and their faces full of hope leads to the cottages which try to create a “family” feeling for its children.  The orphanage is doing everything right – helping children obtain and keep jobs when they age out of Othandweni, working to find homes for each child though constantly battling the stigma of conflict and disease, feeding them, clothing them, everything in their power.
Othandweni has recently been awarded the Impumelelo Award for its “innovation, impact on poverty, sustainability, replicability and effectiveness”.  This model orphanage sets impressive standards using innovative methods to reach the youth in the area.
But even in these efforts, they need our help.

You can be that relief.  Find out how to Get Involved.

• Othandweni means "place of love"
• Johannesburg Child Welfare Society is a registered NPO
• Othandweni was established in 1984
• Faced with a growing number of HIV/AIDS orphans
• Pre-school children attend an Early Childhood Development Center on the premises.
• The cottage system aims to find homes for at least 12 children per year.