Nannies Saving Orphans

Marie Da Silva was born in Malawi, a small nation in southeast Africa. The majority of the 13 million Malawian people reside in rural areas that produce tobacco, tea, maize and sugar cane. For the past 16 years, Da Silva has worked in the United States as a nanny. In 2002, during a visit to her home village, she met with the teachers and students of a small school residing in a church. A year later, she discovered the school had to move out of the church and had nowhere to go. Marie's late mother offered her home as the new facility.

In 1994, the Malawian government introduced the "Free Primary Education Program," but despite their efforts, only 40 percent of children complete their Primary education and 90 percent of teenagers can't afford to go to secondary school. More than half of the children -- 1.4 million -- are orphans because of AIDS. Malawi is among the 10 countries most hit by the pandemic. Fourteen percent of Malawian adults are infected with HIV. Da Silva herself knows first hand the devastating effects it can have. Fourteen members of her immediate family have died of AIDS, including her father, brothers and nieces and nephews.

JACARANDA FOUNDATION: For the past five years, Da Silva has sent $1,000 of what she earns from her nanny salary every month to Malawi to pay the teachers' wages. The school has grown from 60 children in 2003 to 230 current students, ages 6 to 20. The bedrooms and living room serve as study rooms while the kitchen is the headmaster's office and the garage is a classroom.

In late 2005, Da Silva founded the Jacaranda Foundation to raise awareness of the orphans' plight. The goal of the non-profit is to build and manage schools for AIDS orphans in Malawi. Their first project -- to construct a facility for the original Jacaranda school that has operated out of Da Silva's family home. This past summer, the foundation was able to build a secondary school to accommodate 120 more students, bringing the total to 350. The inaugural class entered the school in January 2009. Marie's family house will remain as the primary school.