"AIDs is now the single biggest killer of South Africans & will have taken the lives of about six million people by 2010."

- Sunday Times Newspaper 16th September 2001

Poverty & a lack of basic education have caused the AIDs crisis within South Africa to become an epidemic. The effect of this crisis, apart from the reality that millions will die within a short period of time, is that many more millions of children are being orphaned. Wellspring Ministries initiated Uzwelo Home  (meaning Mercy Home) in 2001, to make a difference in the lives of orphaned children from our surrounding areas. By 2007 the magnitude of orphans needed a different approach. The concept of training people in villages to take care of their orphans was birthed through Uzwelo Rural Orphan Care.