Innovative Orphanage

A Tanzanian orphanage has taken an innovative approach to dealing with the many orphaned infants, who often follow their mothers to the grave, due to lack of medical care and nutrition. These children are not put up for adoption, nor do they spend their entire childhood in the orphanage. They stay until their 2nd or 3rd birthday, cared for by workers and "bintis." A binti is a female relative who comes to live & care for the child at the orphanage. This allows the child to bond with a permanent caregiver, and it also allows the binti to receive education she otherwise would not. The Berega Orphanage is small, caring for only 20 or so infants and toddlers -- a tiny drop in the sea of 50 million African orphans -- but they are saving lives, one orphaned infant at a time.