We have one orphan day care center in Mansa.  Mansa is located about 30 miles east of the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a rural area of northern Zambia.  Mansa has a population of 41,000 but little industry.  Wars and frequent conflict in the Congo over the past fifty years frequently hindered its development.  After independence in 1964, Zambia has found peace but not prosperity.  Today it is one of the poorest and least developed nations on earth.  Approximately 55 % of the population lives on less than $2 per day.  It is also one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic.   An estimated 10% of adults are HIV positive and the life expectancy at birth has fallen to just 39 years.

We have 2 orphan day care centers, an orphanage, and feeding programs in the schools in Soshanguve.  This is a township about 30 miles north of Pretoria with a population of roughly 600,000.  During the Apartheid Era, massive relocation programs evicted non-whites from areas designated as "white only" and forced them to move into townships, impoverished urban areas.  The name Soshanguve stands for Sotho, Shangaan, Nguni, Venda, based on the languages spoken by the peoples resettled here.  The townships of South Africa continue to battle poverty and disease with the onslaught of the AIDS pandemic.  South Africa had an estimated 5.7 million people living with HIV and AIDS in 2009, more than any other country.   This has left behind between 1.5 and 3 million AIDS orphans.