About us The first case of HIV was reported in 1986 and by 1995 the number of orphans in Malawi was over 800,000. 409,000 of these were double orphans (lost both mother and father). It was this desperate situation that inspired the establishment of Orphan Care Malawi. In 1996 Reverend Timothy and his wife Christine started the orphanage by bringing five orphans to live with them in their house. In 1997 with the help of their main founders they were able to secure a location to open a centre, where they have been caring for children ever since. A full day care centre was successfully completed in 2002. Currently the project employs 22 staff, 8 volunteers and is caring for 350 orphans. The orphans stay with extended family members, whom the orphan project provides with loans and farming inputs. Where microloans are advanced there is a formal process of reviewing the progress of the beneficiaries with a view to recycling the loans in due course to a new group of beneficiaries. The infants are looked after all day at the orphanage. The rest are at primary school and the older children are paid for by the orphanage to go to secondary school, all the children returning to the orphanage daily to be fed. Those children who have not benefited from schooling are equipped with life skills at the Training Skills Centre which was built in 2005. Our Mission Our main aims, refined by our experience to date, are: To give nutritional support to orphaned and vulnerable children To provide them with a good education, including higher education for those suited to it To provide technical skills training and apprenticeships to other adolescent orphans To support families looking after orphans, with regular visits and assistance with housing needs To provide appropriate agricultural projects for the community for self-sufficiency in food To provide micro-loans to encourage enterprise To encourage a community response to issues and problems To raise awareness of the causes of HIV/AIDS and to encourage disciplined behaviour to stop infection Above all to provide love and support to all children in our care