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Attie was born into what is sadly becoming a typical family in South Africa.  No father, a mother that died of AIDS before he reached his third birthday.  A mother that refused to take her antiretroviral medicine and therefore passed the AIDS virus straight to her newborn son.

This is Attie’s reality.  After his mother passed away, he was handed from neighbor to neighbor…no one would care for him.  No one would take responsibility for his well-being.  At three and a half he contracted Meningitis …he miraculously survived with no medical treatment…but in the process, he lost all of his hearing.  By the age of five, he was sent to live with his great gandmother…and that is when we met Attie.  He showed up at Ithemba…a loner.

One day, his great grandmother brought him to Ithemba, gavin him to us and told us that he was really sick and that she would no longer take care of him.  Really sick turned out to be and understatement.  Attie had contracted pneumonia and by the time we got him, his fever was so high, he slipped into a coma.  Because his grand mother no longer wanted him, and because we had just finished building a safe house for abandoned and neglected children, we were able to get Attie proper medical care, nurse him back to health, get his hearing tested and therefore find out that he was deaf, and get him on an antiretroviral regiment.  Attie moved into the Safe House when he was six years old and completely captured our hearts.

Once we figured out that Attie was “a loner” because he was deaf, we were able to come up with new ways to communicate with him and show him that we love him.  He instantly became part of our Safe House family..the big brother of the house.  With proper nutrition, proper hygiene and proper medical care, he began to grow and thrive.  His adorable, incredibly sweet natured personality came out, and we began to see his t rue potential…and we began to realize the importance of specialized education so that he can communitcare and eventually become an active member of society.  After much research, we found the South African School for the Deaf.  It is a truly amazing school that offers individual care and education for each child.  Attie is quickly learning sign language and adapting very well tohis new environment.  We are so excited to see Attie grow and develop as he continues to learn, and quite literally, find his voice.

Attie now has the chance to live and to thrive because people like you decided to be a part of his story…to be the hands and feet of Jesus in his life.  Attie now has the opportunity to grow and be loved- to become everything that God created him to be.  In the Township in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa, there are hundreds of children just like Attie.  Children desperate for love and care.  CHildren desperate to be set free from the bondage of povertym and as an organization, LUO is determined to give every one of those children a chance to thrive.

LUO is radically changing a generation of children in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa by intimately entwining in each child’s story.  Through nutritious food, Biblical programming, educational tutoring, medical care and a whole lot of LOVE, we are providing these children HOPE for a future.

But we can DO MORE…Our current facility is over capacity- we need more space.  A new facility would allow us to drastically and holistically impact the lives of 200 more children.

This is where you come in, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Here are two different ways you can act right now:

1.  Make a gift toward LUO’s new facility and literally open the doors of love to 200 more children in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa

2.  Give to LUO’s programming and immediately provide educational, spiritual and physical care to hundreds of amazing kids.

Nisha showed up at Ithemba when she was three years old.  She was one of the most beautiful little girls you have ever seen, but through her adorable curls, you could see fear in her eyes, hurt and sadness…she was so desperate for love and attention.  Her hair had never been washed, causing massive sores and infection on her head.  Her clothes were so dirty that it was hard to tell their orginal color.  Her right hand was completely comsumed by a burn, given to her here intentionally be her grandmother, that would not heal because it was never taken care of.  Nisha was a beautiful three year old little girl in desperate need of help.

When she first arrived, we bather her, washed her hair and got antibiotics for the wounds on her head and hand.  We made sure that she was fed every day and we began to investigate her home life.  Nisha does not know who her mom and dad are.  She lived with her aunt who was an alcoholic and a prostitute, in a one room shack.  No running water , no electricity, one tiny bed.  We know that no matter what care we gave her at Ithemba, her situation would not change unless the changes started at home.  We started meeting with her aunt..giving her resources to overcome her addiction and to find a job to support herself and her niece.  Today, we are still working with her aunt, helping her to be a better guardian.  Nisha is now seven years old and a social butterfly amongst the girls at Ithemba.  Her aunt has taken the responsibility to keep her clean, dressed and protected.  Nisha is now in second grade, and through the help of our after school tutoring programs she is excelling in her classes.  She is well fed, and well cared for because people like you decided to be a part of her story…to be the hands and feet of Jesus in her life.  Nisha now has the opportunity to grow and be loved- to become everything that God create her to be.  In the township in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa, there are hundreds of children just like Nisha.  Children desperate for love and care.  Children desperate to be set free from the bondage of poverty, and as an oragnization, LUO is determined to give every one of those children a chance to thrive.

LUO is radically changing a generation of children in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa by intimately entwining in each child’s story.  Through nutritious food, Biblical programming, educational tutoring, medical care and a whole lot of LOVE, we are providing these children HOPE. for a future.

But we can DO MORE…Our current facility is over capacity- we need more space.   A new facility would allow us to drastically and holistically impact the lives of 200 more children.

This is where you come in, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Here are two different ways that you can act now”

1.  Make a gift towards LUO’s new facility and litterally open the doors of love to 200 more children in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa.

2.  Give to LUO’s programming and immediately provide educational, spiritual and physical care to hundreds of amazing kids.

When Mary first walked into Ithemba the light in her eyes and the joy in her smile set her apart.  At five years old, she was outgoing, confident and trying to find her way in a brand new community and a brand new country.  Her little mind was like a sponge, soaking in new languages, new cultures and customs, new food, and new opportunity.

Mary and her family moved to Jeffrey’s Bay to find refuge and a new life after their previous home of Zimbabwe began to crumble.  According to Wikipedia, Zimbabwe’s current economic and food crisis described by some observers as the country’s worst humanitarian crisis since independence, has been attributed in varying degrees to the government’s price controls and land confiscations, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and a drought affecting the entire region.  Life expectancy at birth for males in Zimbabwe is dramatically declined since 1990 from 60 to 42 years, among the lowest in the world.  The amount of time a Zimbabwean citizen is expected to live healthily from birth is 39 years.  Concurrently, the infant morality rate has climbed from 53 to 81 deaths per 1,000 live births in the same period.  As of 2009, 1.2 million Zimbabweans are living with HIV.

After taking refuge in South Africa, and settling in Jeffrey’s Bay, Mary’s father immediately enrolled her into our kindergarden programs at Ithemba and we immediately began to see that Mary was a very special child.  After being in South Africa for less than a year, Mary spoke her mother tongue, Shone, English, and two South African languages, Xhosa and Afrikaans…Mary was not only learning new languages, she was acting as a translator for us during our visits to Ithemba.  It was very quickly very easy to see that Mary had potential to do big things, and be a role model for many girls in the community.  Last year we were able to offer her a scholarship to a private school in Jeffrey’s Bay where she has the chance to be challenged, to grow, and to become a leader.  Mary is at the top of her class and she is determined to stay there.  Very day after school, she comes to Ithemba for tutoring and extra curricular activities.  She is loved by both her biological family and her family at Ithemba.  She is getting the best posible education and the best possible resources to succeed because people like you decided to be a part of her story…to be the hands and feet of Jesus in her life.  Mary now has the opportunity to grow and be loved – to become everything that God created her to be.  In the township in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa, thee are hundreds of children just like Mary.  Children desperate for love and care.  Children desperate to be set free from the bondage of poverty and as an organization, LUO is determined to give every one of those children a chance to thrive.

LUO is radically changing a generation of children in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa by intimately entwining in each child’s story.  Through nutritious food, Biblical programming, education tutoring, medical care and a whole lot of LOVE, we are providing these children HOPE for a future.

But we can DO MORE…Our current facility is over capacity- we need more space.  A new facility would allow us to drastically and holisticall impact the lives of 200 more children.

This is where you com in, we need YOUR HELP… Here are two different ways you can act right now:

1.  Make a gift toward LUO’s new facility and literally open the doors of love to 200 more children in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa.

2.  Give to LUO’s programming and immediately provide educational, spiritual and physical care to hundreds of amazing kids.

Sino is seven years old.  He is in great health, he has a loving family and he is a star student at his private school.  He is on the 1st grade rugby team and he is has the most charming smile…he has so much potential, and every opportunity to reach it!  But, two short years ago, this was not Sino’s story…these were not his circumstances.  When we met Sino, he was 5 years old and he has just survived a brutal beating.  When Sino lived with is birth mother, one of his jobs was to gather fire wood each day.  One day, his mother was extremely drunk, and Sino was collecting wood a little more slowly than usual.  Because of this, his mother began to beat him…and she would not stop.  One of the neighbors heard his cries and thankfully intervened.  Child welfare was sent to the house, and Sino was taken out of his house, and put into our LUO family.  Sino was the first child to move into the safe house  and it was so amazing to watch him grow and adapt so easily to his new environment.  He was so happy to be loved and cared for…so happy to feel safe.  Within days, he was calling the safe house mom, “mom” and as new children started to move in, he immediately adopted them as his brothers and sisters.  We enrolled Sino in our Kindergarten program at Ithemba and his teacher started to see something special in him. He was a natural born leader, a very hard worker, and very smart.  When we heard this, we started the application process so that we could send him, and our other star students to a private school where we knew that they would be challenged and get the best possible education.  Sino is loved, cared for and protected because people like you decided to be a part of his story…to be the hands and feet of Jesus in his life.  Sino now has the opportunity to grow and be loved- to become everything that God created him to be.

In the township in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa, there are hundreds of children just like Sino.  Children desperate for love and care.  Children desperate to be set free from the bondage of poverty, and as an organization, LUO is determined to give every one of those children a chance to thrive.

LUO is radically changing a generation of children in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa by intimately entwining in each child’s story.  Through nutritious food, Biblical programming, educational tutoring, medical care and a whole lot of LOVE, we are providing these children HOPE for a future.

But we can DO MORE…Our current facility is over capacity- we need more space.  A new facility would allow us to drastically and holistically impact the lives of 200 more children.

This is where you come in, we need YOUR HELP…

Here are two different ways you act right now:

1. Make a gift toward LUO’s new facility and literally open the doors of love to 200 more children.

2. Give to LUO’s programming and immediately provide educational, spiritual and physical care to hundreds of amazing kids.

Coolest Kid in South Africa from Patricia Andrews on Vimeo.