This paper presented at the Ireland Aid Education Forum in Dublin, gives an insight into the challenge of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has the greatest proportion of children who are orphans and responding to their needs with one-off interventions and periodic attention is inadequate as orphanhood is not an event. The psychological and emotional distress of orphans is a serious issue which needs to be looked into beyond the great deal of attention given to meeting the basic needs of children of food, accomodation, health care and attention. Societies have responded in various ways to the needs of children orphaned by AIDS but still families and communities are being left to deal with the crisis almost on their own. The conclusion is that there is need for immediate action to re-invigorate the response to the OVC challenge and leadership commitment at all levels of society is key for success in this area.