The Crisis + How We Began

Within South Africa, the social poverty is often greater than the physical poverty. The separation of fathers from their families during Apartheid began a cycle that continues today. Children are growing up without male role models and in broken families. This reality has contributed to an alarming rate of violent crime among young men and sexual vulnerability among young women. Many people face the injustice of living without services such as water and electricity. As the gap between rich and poor increases throughout the country, those living in poverty are denied basic rights.  

In George Snyman’s (co-founder of Hands at Work) final year of Bible school, he was compelled to walk through Africa, staying in impoverished communities, seeing for the first time the seemingly hidden suffering of communities that were being devastated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. After George and his wife Carolyn had completed their studies, they travelled to another province in South Africa, where they started simply feeding children who were scavenging for food on rubbish dumps. After several years, they received the invitation to head up the first home-based care organisation in Masoyi community, located close to the now established Hands at Work base in Mpumalanga. There they cared for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those dying of HIV/AIDS. Shortly after this began, they felt called to replicate the model of care across Africa. As George and Carolyn met children who had been abandoned after the death of their caregivers, their focus shifted from those dying of HIV/AIDS to the children who had been left as orphans. 

Our Response

As the local church is mobilised in each community to unite and reach out to the most vulnerable, Hands at Work equips them to provide physical, emotional, and spiritual support to the children and families they serve. Children are supported through the daily provision of Hands at Work's three essential services. These include food, education and basic health care. These are provided at Life Centres within their community. Through regular visits to their homes, Bible teaching and prayer, children come to know that they are loved by Christ and those who care for them.

Population: 61, 073, 340

Number of people living in extreme poverty: 22%

Number of children (0 to 14) living with HIV/AIDS: 160 000

Number of children (0 to 17) who have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS: 640, 000

Life Expectancy: 65 (F) | 60 (M) 

Country Rating (out of 187) the Human Development Index: 110

–Sources: UNAID, UNDP,  World Poverty Clock