The children are either orphans or abandoned children who live at the Sakhumzi Orphanage who come to Ekukhanyeni for the day as the orphanage doesn't have an outdoor space. Or they are children whose parents must leave the township every day to travel into Cape Town to work.
Most of the parents who bring their children to Ekukhanyeni are very poor and cannot pay for it. But Mama Amelia knows that a safe daycare is essential to the community.
Most of the children at Ekukhanyeni are between about 5 and 8. Children under 5 stay at the Sakhumzi Orphanage during the day and children over 8 start to go to school.
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| Here's me (Stu) with one of the amazing kids. |
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| These gals were happy to pose beneath the shade tree at Ekukhanyeni. |
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| This little guy was very happy with his little his spiderman toy. (None of the kids have their own toys - they share everything.) |
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| As the little guy in the center shows - they've all got their personalities. The boy on the left thought my name was "Snake" for some reason! |
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| There was a very funny misunderstanding when I was taking pics in the classroom. The kids thought that I wanted them to pretend they were asleep - I'm not sure why! But they were so eager to play along. |
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| This little girl on Jenn's lap really enjoyed having a nice 'one on one' with Jenn - although she doesn't speak English and Jenn doesn't speak Xhosa! (at least I think she doesn't!) |
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| This little guy wanted to show off his biceps and we arm wrestled every day! |
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| For some reason the kids became fascinated with my adams apple and wanted to play with it! |
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| I asked these two children if they would make a drawing for my boyfriend Ami as a present. |
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| All of the children love getting just a few minutes of focused attention and affection. This little boy didn't want Jenn to put him down. |
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| Zanele made me a beautiful picture of the South African flag. It's framed now and hanging in my apartment in LA. |
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