Believers are investing in a future for South Africa.

South Africa (MNN)–Sub-Saharan Africa will have 20 million HIV/AIDS orphans by 2010.

Mothers who know they are going to die are asking “What is going to happen to my children? ” It’s a hard reality, especially in areas where the disease has decimated populations.

South African communities have been hard hit, forcing them to develop care and support programs, but the numbers threaten to overwhelm their efforts.

Evangelical Baptist Missions partner, Bethesda Outreach has a specific vision for the families ravaged by AIDS. Bethesda’s Don Whipple. “Bethesda exists as sort of a safety net that takes these orphans that no one else can really provide for. Our mission really is to raise a whole other generation.”

Whipple says the village foster parents bear the responsibility of a large part of the ministry. “They take them to church every Sunday, they teach them the Bible at home, and it’s in reaching the orphans in the homes and then discipling them in a Christian home, that our real hope is that the greatest results of Bethesda outreach are going to be seen as this generation grows up.”

Bethesda is getting ready to dedicate their village expansions on October 15th. Whipple says they’ve just completed four new buildings, and several additions to homes in the village. Each village, housing 400 children, includes children’s homes, a village church, schools, farming project, and a vocational training center.