In Zimbabwe today, approximately one in four children age 15 and under is an AIDS orphan.

John C. Wilkinson founded Brother Brother Sister Sister in response to the staggering AIDS orphan crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. Early in 2003, he saw a television documentary depicting the millions of orphans left alone in southern Africa when their parents died from AIDS.

“The images of a few adults in an orphanage surrounded by a sea of children with their arms outstretched to the adults, grasping for attention the way starving people grasp for food, touched me in a way no statistics or facts about the consequences of the HIV/AIDS pandemic had before,” Wilkinson said.

Appealing to God
“I prayed to God to send someone to help those children. In the very next moment‚ a thought came clearly to my mind: “I'm sending you.” I realized then that if everyone who saw the documentary prayed as I did, but took no concrete action, the children would remain without the human and material assistance they need.”

As a result of that experience, Wilkinson devised a plan to form Brother Brother Sister Sister. After extensive research on HIV/AIDS problems and solutions in economically distressed regions, he traveled to Zimbabwe to establish the community and local governmental support to implement the organization's aid effectively. Read some of the stories from these travels in Zimbabwe.

Inspired by caregivers
“Because of the loving, generous caregivers I met, the orphans in need I visited, and the sick with whom I prayed and who I comforted,” Wilkinson said, “when I returned to Austin, I was imbued with an iron determination to labor diligently to assist these children of God, our brothers and sisters.”

It is with this determination that Brother Brother Sister Sister continues its mission today. You can help by making a donation or getting involved. If you would like to volunteer, write us an e-mail.