CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: - Registered as a Non-Profit Organisation -
No. 009-016-NPO
- Controlled by Board of Governors
- Monthly Committee Meetings
- Accounting outsourced to professional services
- Expenditure and budget approvals

WHY FOCUS ON HIV/AIDS CHILDREN:
- Aids is a socially unacceptable disease accompanied by stigma, isolation and rejection.
- Children are vulnerable, dependent and lack the ability to comprehend what is happening to them.
- Children are at the mercy of care-givers, the community, the institutions of society, law and policy-makers and service providers.
- Children become violently ill because of AIDS, die horrible deaths because of AIDS and are being orphaned and abandoned because of AIDS.

"The vision which fuelled our struggle for freedom: the development of energies and resources: the unity and commitment of common goals - all these are needed if we are to bring AIDS under control. Future generations will judge us on the adequacy of our response."
- Nelson Mandela

HISTORY:

In the centre of the Free State Goldfields region of South Africa is the city of Welkom. Until fairly recently this was a bustling mining town but the falling of the gold price and outworked gold-bearing reefs have meant that many mines have drastically scaled down their operations. This has resulted in multiple job losses. It is estimated that up to 60% of our local workforce is currently unemployed as a result of the down-scaling of our gold mines. Most of the men who were retrenched were migrant workers who returned to their homes leaving behind them children and their mothers who no longer had any financial support. What also remained was AIDS, which has infected and continues to affect a very large proportion of the community.

Morning Star Children's Centre was born out of deep Christian compassion for the plight of our Nation finds itself in due to the escalating HIV/AIDS pandemic currently sweeping through our land. We are committed to restoring hope to the women and children of our region and making a meaningful change to as many families as possible.
Morning Star is a day care facility for underprivileged children who are infected with HIV/AIDS. It opened its doors for the first time in January 2000 to admit the first 8 children.
Now just 8 years later, there just over 200 children on our register. Sadly, some do die and, on average, one child dies every month.

Aware of the enormous poverty problem and job losses in our area, we have also been instrumental in initiating several income generating projects over the past years. The surviving/thriving 2 are our Food Gardens & Agricultural Tunnel Project and our Tshedisanang Women's Embroidery and Papermaking Project. Up to 20 adults at a time, all poverty-stricken and affected/infected with HIV/AIDS themselves, work these programmes each weekday.

PRESENT:

As of Feb2008: About 90 children attend our Welkom Centre daily (74 pre-schoolers & 16 in our little primary school). 32 Children attend our Kutlwanong Centre each weekday. About 135 additional children are already in primary schools but come to us for medical assistance and other problems. Over 130 children presently on our waiting list, although not attending our Centre, many of these families receive assistance with food, clothing, and government grant applications. Whilst Morning Star takes excellent care of the children with a good reputation in Welkom and surrounding communities, we are currently faced with the following key issues: our premises have become too small; transport is inadequate as we require a 4th vehicle to assist with the collection of children each day; we cannot accommodate all the children on our Waiting List and they sometimes die before gaining admittance to our Centre; We do not have a qualified Social Worker because we cannot meet the salaries they earn working for the government (2 of our staff members are presently being trained as Auxiliary Social Workers); and last but not least, we are solely reliant upon the generosity of our donors, the community, and individuals for our Project's sustainability.

SERVICES: presently impacting over 1000 individuals a month

1. EDUCATION:

- Day care for preschool children (equip for Grade 1)
- Daily pre-school programme for all children over 3 years of age
- Toddler Programme for children between the ages of 18 months and 3 years
- Free admission and transport to and from our Centre each day
- Ongoing HIV/AIDS education in the townships
- Monthly Support Group meetings for parents / next-of-kin
- Quarterly Gogos' Club for our children's grandmothers
- Quarterly Teenage Club Meetings for children between ages of 10-16

2. NUTRITIONAL SERVICES:

- 2 meals served daily to the children at the Centre
- Appropriate and ongoing free medication
- Free doctor consultations for all children on our register
- Regular food parcels to impoverished families not yet accessing government grants
- Clothing and shoes handed out when necessary

3. COUNSELLING:

- Pre-and post-test HIV/AIDS counselling

4. ACCESSING OF SOCIAL GRANTS

- between 10-20 families are assisted monthly with government grant applications

5. INCOME-GENERATING ACTIVITIES:

- Tshedisanang Women's Project - embroidery, sewing, papermaking, knitting
- Food Garden& Agricultural Tunnel Project - Vegetable growing
- read article on how people have won Awards in the past through this project...

6. SELF-SUSTAINING PROJECTS - examples:

- Families have also been taught how to grow their own vegetables at home.
- A 6-month training programme on trench gardening is on offer annually.

7. MONTHLY FOOD PARCEL DELIVERY TO TOWNSHIPS

- Up to 130 food parcels are given out each month to impoverished families not yet accessing government grants.

8. MONTHLY SUPPORT MEETINGS

- Monthly Support Group Meetings for children's parents and guardians on HIV/AIDS and care of small children;
- Quarterly Gogo's Club Meeting - providing a platform needed to express our appreciation to them for what they are doing for their grandchildren as a result of HIV/AIDS pandemic;
- Quarterly Teenage Club Meetings, for children between ages of 10-16