In pictures: Orphans' Christmas in South Africa

BBC News website attends a Christmas party put on for orphaned and impoverished children in South Africa.

A pre-Christmas lunch at the Masibambisane Centre, south of Johannesburg is a rare celebration for the children, ranging from one to 18 years, who come here regularly after school or in the holidays for meals, clothes and educational support.

Many are orphans, casualties of the HIV epidemic. Others are destitute because their parents are ill or unemployed.