In 2010 I travelled to South Africa with my family where we visited an orphanage in the Eniwe region. The trip would prove to be life altering.

We brought with us $1000 that we had raised informally and several boxes of clothing, shoes and school supplies. As we rounded the corner and the orphanage fence came into view, we were already holding back tears. The children were crowded around the makeshift gate, clapping and shouting out greetings and only just avoiding being run over by our car! They were shy and held back for just the briefest moment as we got out of the car before the little boys bravely came up to shake our hands and the little girls flung their arms around our legs.

We were shepherded into the church building where we were asked to introduce ourselves to the children and tell them why we had come. It was extremely emotional and we were barely able to compose ourselves in the face of such openness and warmth. Then the children sang for us and gave us a tour of their home. How wonderfully proud and welcoming they were!

On my return to Sydney I established a not-for-profit organisation to raise funds for these inspirational children and their selfless carers.

Our organisation has a partnership with a restaurant in Sydney that collects a $1 dollar donation from each bill that goes out to the tables. This income is steady and reliable and Eniwe Children's Fund aims to market this arrangement to other restaurants that wish to donate in the same way.

We plan to make annual trips to South Africa to distribute the funds and be actively involved in planning and structuring mid- to-long-term projects to enable the children to grow up in a safe, nurturing environment; an environment that includes hope for their future.

A couple of the projects we are planning include building a chicken run to farm chickens and eggs to both sell and use, and planting and maintaining a vegetable garden on site for fresh produce for the children.

Every dollar raised by Eniwe Children’s Fund goes directly to the orphanage – there are no management fees or other deductions. Although we are a small organisation, we do hope to grow in the future and raise money to spread our support in the area, and we will always be hands-on and directly involved with how the monies are distributed and spent.

You can find out more about me here,  or why not join us in our mission to support the orphanage.