The orphans who know they're loved

In this country, more people live with HIV than anywhere else in the world – and every year thousands of people die from AIDS-related illnesses. It means that a quarter of children under the aged of 17 are orphans. Think about that. All those children suffering the grief, trauma and sadness of losing their parents. And there’s little state support, like we have here.

These children end up living with elderly grandparents, or – like Mcolise and his brother – fending for themselves. Mcolise and Sphiwikho took me to their home, an hour’s walk down a mountainside. These boys lost their father many years ago, and their mum died in 2012 when Mcolise was 12 and Sphiwikho was just six.

Mcolise started doing the cooking and cleaning. The boys eat wild vegetables from the hillside and sometime catch birds to cook. Every morning, Mcolise gets himself and his little brother up at 4am, ready to do their chores and leave for school at 5.30am. They rarely eat breakfast. My heart broke for this quiet teenage boy with sadness in his eyes.

At the school the boys attend, at least a third of the pupils are vulnerable or orphaned. The headteacher, Susan Motsa, told me children arrive hungry, unwashed, or without school uniform. One little boy is bathed by a teacher every morning, who combs his hair. ‘It’s so painful to see these children,’ she said. ‘They are traumatised and they trust no one.’ But life can change for children child like Mcolise – and here’s how.

For the last few years, our team in Swaziland have been working with Mcolise’s school to provide God’s word alongside practical help. Children who are traumatised following the death of their parents receive Bible-based counselling. Orphans like Mcolise are trained in how to grow vegetables and are given seeds to get started. We build wooden coops and provide chickens, so the children have eggs to eat. And everyone is handed their own copy of the Bible.