Oprah Winfrey recently explained why she’s opening a school in South Africa instead of using US$40 million of her own money on America’s needy youth. “I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools [in the US],” she told Newsweek. “If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”

Like millions of children all over Africa, Minda is the victim of the AIDS / HIV epidemic. She does not have the disease but her entire family died from AIDS. Without the help of the UKV Guardian Angel scheme, and with no other effective social infrastructure to care for her when she became an orphan, there was simply nowhere for Minda to go. Other will deal eventually with stopping such things happening to children like Minda - meantime we deal with reality and the here and now.