Orange Farm Community Centre

South Africa is grappling with the challenges of development. And the extent of the impact of the HIV epidemic can be gauged by the fact that the population of South Africa has actually declined by -.41% annually for the last few years. The urbanisation of the population has many that many unemployed people have migrated towards the cities in search of work and Orange Farm is no exception. People infected by the HIV virus have also found themselves marginalised by the community and often find themselves in informal settlements after being abandoned by their families.

Orange Farm is a township located approximately 45 km from Johannesburg in Gauteng Province. It is one of the youngest informal settlements in South Africa, with the original inhabitants, laid off farm workers, taking up residency in 1988. Support for the population came slowly mostly from people who were tenants at the great township of Soweto.

The settlement has few paved roads, permanent housing for some, and electricity in places, a clinic, an information center with internet access, and a multi-purpose community center and franchise supermarkets . However these improvements come with financial costs, which most of the citizens living in Orange Farm cannot afford.

The ongoing privatization which Orange Farm has been subjected to has also drawn much criticism from social justice and human rights groups as local businesses keep on dying. Most people are still living in shacks. The streets are full of dongas and when it rains the streets become muddy making it impossible for cars to pass. Most notably the installment of pre-paid water meters has been criticized for denying access to clean drinking water for much of the population of Orange Farm. Approximately 85% of the people work in Johannesburg. Most of the people use trains to get to work. 40% of the residents are unemployed.