People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, the adage goes. Compassion initiatives illustrate that well. The compassion arena in South Africa is vast. While we have enormous challenges in the areas of poverty, homelessness, healthcare, and hunger, the obvious HIV/AIDS-related needs top the list. There are two primary areas of concern. First of all, there is the need to care for those infected with the HIV virus (read more…). Secondly, the care for the children left behind by dying parents is becoming an often forgotten yet great challenge (read more…).
Consider these stark realities:

• There are almost 5 million people infected with HIV in South Africa
• 50,000 people per month are being infected with HIV in South Africa—more than 1 every minute
• 94% of the world’s children with HIV/AIDS are in Africa
• 70% of children who die in Johannesburg hospitals do so because of HIV/AIDS
• AIDS is the #1 killer of youth between ages 15 and 24
• 50% of those under the age of 15 will be dead by the year 2010
• 40% of the workforce in South Africa is HIV+
• The motor industry trains 3 people for every 1 job
• The mines are building their own care facilities to care for infected workers
• By 2012, 3 million children under the age of 18 will have lost their mothers, and 4.7 million children will have lost their fathers
• The death rate from AIDS could peak at 16,000 people per day in 2006

Healthcare and Advancement Project
SpiritWind International is in the funding and planning stages of a monumental HIV/AIDS healthcare and advancement project. This project’s anticipated location is the greater Johannesburg, South Africa area. There are four major components to this project: a functional hospital, regional clinics, education facilities, and HIV/AIDS orphan homes (read more…).

HIV/AIDS Orphans
Emerging as one of the most pronounced (and growing) needs is HIV/AIDS Orphans. AIDS orphans are infants and children who have been orphaned as a result of the AIDS-related death of the parents. Official estimates of the South African government indicate there will be 5 million AIDS orphans in South Africa by 2010. Nearly two-thirds (67%) of these children are HIV-negative and are eligible for adoption (read more…).