St. Vincent’s Children’s Home

St. Vincent Children’s Home is a home for vulnerable children located in Mariannhill, South Africa.  A total of 110 children reside at St. Vincent’s.  Nearly all children come from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s most impoverished province, and are of the indiginous Zulu culture.  Most were placed at the home due to poverty and its associated hardships, and many have been orphaned due to the impact of HIV and AIDS on their families.

St. Vincent’s was founded in 1899 by Abbot Francis Pfanner, a Trappist monk who founded the missionary community of Mariannhill.  Shortly after its establishment, the children’s home was turned over to the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood, who still run the orphanage today.

The Sisters and staff work hard to secure a home and education for each child when they age out of St. Vincent’s.  With virtually no public options to support this process, however, and no financial means for the education required for stable employment, many older children are forced to resume the life of poverty that originally led to their placement in the home.