HIV/AIDS Orphanage

This is me, Jelecia, and Holly at an HIV/AIS orphanage in Johannesburg, South Africa. The little guy on my lap dressed in blue, Moses, was buried alive. Yes, you read that correctly. His mother was so desperate that she buried him alive. Buried him. They are not sure of his birth date and they are guessing he is about 3 - 4 months old. The other little guy on my lap dressed in red, is Simbusisu "Simbu". He's 8 months and later on in the day he feel asleep on my chest. Jelecia is holding the only girl in the group of 6 children at this orphanage. Holly is holding baby Peter.

This little guy is the only one with HIV. Because he is HIV positive, no one wants to adopt him. :( He just started the HIV meds and he is doing well. His life expectancy is age 20. He was very sweet!


As you can see from the photos, this orphanage, Baby Haven, is quite lovely and very loving. In the first photo, if you look very carefully, you can see a woman, Joanna, in the kitchen. She is the orphans mother and both she and the babies call her "mommy". They take in abandoned and orphaned babies in the Johannesburg area, of course many due to HIV/AIDS. There they wait for a "forever family". It is VERY difficult or nearly impossible to adopt if you are not a resident of South Africa due to child/human trafficing and child pornography problems in the world. (Maybe you hear of Madonna's troubles adopting a child from Africa?)