Help Us Keep Up With What This Home Needs

Rent doesn't wait for a good month to arrive. Neither does a water bill.

My name is Larnell Mann. My wife, Blanche, and I are the co-founders of Gift A Child Children's Home, a small, Christian-founded home in Johannesburg, South Africa. Blanche also manages the day-to-day running of the home as our Director and Centre Manager. Neither of us draws a salary from the organisation — this isn't a job we clock out of, it's a responsibility we chose three years ago and haven't looked back from since.

The children in our care don't just have a bed for the night here. They have a home — food on the table, clothes that fit, an education, structure, discipline, and people who show up for them every single day. They get to be children: to go to school, to have a bedtime, to know someone will be there when they get home. This isn't a programme they pass through. It's where they live.

What's harder to see from the outside is everything it takes to make that possible, month after month. Love doesn't pay rent. It doesn't cover water, electricity, groceries, transport to school...