As winter settles over South Africa, Matthew and I often find ourselves watching the evening birds gather. They scurry and forage, drawing close into communal roosts for warmth. Their instinct to gather — to protect, to sustain, to share warmth — mirrors why we come to Africa.
We come to gather stories.
Stories of courage, heartbreak, resilience, and transformation. Stories of how AAF continues to reach children who would otherwise remain unseen. We sift through these moments so we can bring them home — to you — our own community of support. Because AAF cannot protect the children we do not know about, we work tirelessly with our local team to find the forgotten starfish (children in most desperate need), the fragile hearts needing urgent care.
Sometimes that means using our medical skills to bind and heal. Other times it means tending to emotional and societal wounds caused by HIV/AIDS, walking alongside local leaders and empowering them to be the hands and feet of hope.
AAF functions as a silent witness, a quiet constant aroma which graciously meets the broken in their pain. Via the local leaders’ hands and feet, AAF emboldens action where no aid agency treads.
And then, after each trip, we return to the safety of home in Australia — deeply grateful that, by God’s grace, AAF has played even a small role in illuminating both the anguish and the joy woven through these communities.
One memory from this trip lingers with me. The sound of 150 children — laughing, crying, calling out — children deemed “unwanted,” now facing the closure of their safe orphanage. I listened as our AAF team prayed over them in their Zulu tongue, urging gratitude. To walk by faith and not by sight. And I felt the weight of the question we carry every day: How many starfish can we save?
On days like this, gratitude becomes my anchor. Gratitude for every donation — large or small — that reaches our humble foundation across the ocean. Gratitude for every person who chooses to stand with us so that AAF can continue bringing life, dignity, and hope into the broken corners of Africa.
Ngiyabonga kakhulu
Thank you deeply.
With heartfelt appreciation,
Dr Jane Gray
Deputy Chair, AAF
