Two members of a Zulu tribe are visiting Sydney schools to talk about the lives of South African children who have lost their parents to AIDS.
Vusi Maphalala and his wife Bongi recently visited Cawdor Public School in Sydney's south west where the pupils have been writing letters to orphans in schools near South Africa's Drakensburg Mountains.
The Maphalalas work with the African AIDS Foundation, which has raised $2 million for these children who live in orphanages in South Africa.
“The children have lost hope, they don’t know what to do, they feel like there is no reason to live,” Mr Maphalala told SBS News.
The foundation was started south-west Sydney based doctor John Schwarz, who worked with a remote Zulu tribe in South Africa in the 1970s.
He started the foundation to help the children of AIDS victims through school, to find work and to learn basic life skills.
“We have a community that lost half a generation and there are a lot of young people who have tremendous needs and that's what our charity is doing something about,” Dr Schwarz said.
