Meet Isaac – a human face and story for a tragedy of epic proportions unravelling in sub-Saharan Africa where nearly 12 million of the world’s estimated 15 million AIDS orphans live. His situation must surely be every parent’s nightmare – a once beloved child now totally abandoned, with nowhere to sleep, no shared meals at a table, no one to turn to, no hugs, no praise, no laughter, no love.

Isaac, aged about 10 years, is that child. Dressed in the same ragged dirty clothes, day after day he stands at the intersection of two very busy roads in bustling Johannesburg, William Nicol and Republic. His mother is dead and he does not know his father. He has no home and no relatives or friends to take him in. He sleeps rough, which is tolerable during the summer unless it rains, but miserable in the icy winter nights. Even if he could obtain a blanket or sleeping bag he has nowhere safe to stow it while he is away ‘at work’.

Instead each night he makes a temporary bed out of discarded newspapers and cardboard and hopes that he will be safe – there are many ‘tsotsis’ around who wouldn’t hesitate to rob him of his meagre possesions or perhaps his life, simply for the hell of it or for muti. Trade in children’s body parts represents the dark underbelly of some traditional beliefs that certain parts make very powerful medicines.

Having survived the night, he treks to his workstation with his cardboard placard and box of Easter eggs. If it has been a good week he may go via his secret hiding place to dig up some of his hidden money to buy breakfast. But he has to be extremely careful – there are always people around, always watching and waiting to rob him. His stash of hidden money is his only real comfort. When it is big enough he wants to use it to go to school. That is what keeps him going.

Isaac has strong principles and a work ethic. Never missing a day, he declares on his placard that he does not want to beg. He advertises Easter eggs instead for five rand each. On good days he can make up to R200 but he has to use part of that to buy his next day’s stock. Isaac knows what profit means. His tenacity, spirit of hope and entrepreneurial flair give him a better chance than most other street orphans of avoiding a life of begging, crime and drugs. But the odds are stacked heavily against him, without someone to support, guide and love him.

Isaac motivates us at Mothers for All to reach out to even more of the women who are looking after these orphans and giving them hope for a brighter future.

Thanks to Justin Nel of Investec, South Africa, for bringing Isaac’s story to light and taking the photograph.