joy africa foundation
We believe in a world in which every orphan and street child in Africa is able to be a JOYFUL KID, living a fulfilled carefree childhood – irrespective of gender, place of birth, nationality, religion or social status.
At the Joy Africa Foundation, we believe it is the fundamental right of every single orphan and street child in Africa to live a fulfilled carefree childhood – irrespective of gender, place of birth, nationality, religion or social status – AND regardless of whatever they have experienced to date in their young lives.
What we do
The joy africa foundation provides
financial, logistical and advisory support to independently-run children’s homes and orphanages across Africa.
Because in spite of the incredible efforts of global and regional charities operating across Africa, millions of children are still at risk. In a 2006 publication*, (Africa’s Orphaned and Vulnerable Generations: Children Affected by AIDS) UNICEF estimated that up to 53 million children across Sub-Saharan Africa were vulnerable children.
These are children under the age of 18, many of whom are living on the streets – young kids left to fend for themselves, without ANY hope for the future. A 2021 UNICEF report (2021 HIV and AIDS Sub-Saharan Africa Snapshot) estimated that 11.5 million children in the region had lost one or both parents due to AIDS alone.
Yet others are street kids whose parents are still alive but either cannot (poverty, sickness) or will not (danger of violence or abuse) raise their kids in a caring family unit. Very few African nations have any kind of social welfare system to support them.
The plight of these children is desperate. They are vulnerable and they are scared. Some are victims of abuse, others are sick. Few have any hope for the future. For these children, each day is dominated by the struggle to survive, to somehow hold on for one more day.
Thankfully, there are the local heroes -
the African men and women who dedicate their lives to helping these children. In spite of their own biting poverty, these incredible people have managed to mobilise resources to set up homes and provide essential care and shelter for some children.
They are mostly severely under-resourced and dependent on the goodwill and generosity of local residents and officials. When they are unable to function, the children they were protecting find themselves back at the mercy of the streets they once came from – an appalling predicament.