Students Connecting Theory to Practice in Costa Rica
Tags: Community Strengthening In April 2017, eight students accompanied Dr. Greg Burch, a professor at Multnomah University, to Costa Rica for a unique 12-day course. Students met with child welfare practitioners from a variety of local organizations, including Casa Viva [...]
Where We Belong: The Importance of Family Tracing
Tags: Community Strengthening Every Saturday, 18 impoverished communities in and around the capital city of Uganda welcome staff and volunteers from Kids Club Kampala for games, music, Bible study, and other exciting activities. Olivia Barker White, Corrie Fraser, and Samuel [...]
A Father to Tie Her Shoes: A Ugandan Pastor’s Adoption Story
Tags: Adoption | Foster Care | Community Strengthening In 2014, then just a baby, Andaiye* was found abandoned in a drainage ditch in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala. After she received medical treatment, it was determined she was HIV positive. She was [...]
Better Together for Children and Families in Uganda
Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening The crested crane is a symbol of pride in Uganda. It is both the national bird and the name of Uganda’s most popular sports team—the Uganda Cranes. There is, however, another organization with a national [...]
The Pathway Home
Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening Each child living on the street in Jinja, Uganda has a unique story, but many of their stories have similar themes. Broken homes, poverty, abuse, neglect, and addiction are common threads. And many of these [...]
Breaking Isolation, Empowering Families
Tags: Community Strengthening Fifty-one percent of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 24. This is a trend found in numerous developing countries, and some see these disproportionate numbers as a potential problem. Craig Greenfield, however, saw it as a [...]
Expanding a Vision of Care for Kenyan Children
Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment After years of caring for vulnerable children within a residential setting, Vision Africa, a faith-based organization in Kenya, expanded their vision by adjusting their strategies to support the healthy development of children in [...]
HOPE International: Making a Way to Respond to God’s Call to Care for the Fatherless
Tags: Adoption | Foster Care | Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment In southern Rwanda, Jean Marie and his wife own and operate the only restaurant in their small town. They also have a successful farm producing an abundance of crops. [...]
Identity Mission: Fostering a Continuum of Family Care Options for Honduran Children
Tags: Adoption | Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment Best practice in caring for orphaned and vulnerable children indicates the need for a continuum of care options for children currently living in—or at risk of being sent to—institutions. While a growing number [...]
When a Mother Embraces Hope
Tags: Community Strengthening Every day in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, there are mothers who rise in the Kore’ slum not knowing what they will feed their children, how they will provide for their basic needs, and if they will find work [...]
Casa Viva: Family as Sacred Space
Tags: Economic Empowerment For a child, there is no substitute for the lively discussion, the eye contact, the emotional support, and the affection that take place within families. Jill Aspegren, Co-Executive Director of Casa Viva, offers a compelling appeal to care for [...]
Heaven’s Family: A Story of Donor Transformation
Tags: Transitioning “I’d rather work in the fields of my village with my own family than live in an orphanage,” explained a Burmese girl to Philip Barker, Director of Heaven’s Family UK. She was the very first child Philip met [...]
Gatekeeping in Thailand: Reinforcing God’s Design for Family and Protecting Children
Tags: Economic Empowerment Along the Thai-Burma border are communities fraught with poverty and filled with families struggling to survive. The communities mostly comprise people who fled Burma due to decades of violence and oppression. Their children, stateless and without citizenship [...]
Potter’s House: Transformation Through Livelihood Strengthening
Tags: Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment In the garbage dumps of Guatemala, children are born and raised in an environment that can impede human flourishing. They grow up in the middle of society’s waste, which makes it difficult to see a future [...]
No Ordinary Love Ministries: Reuniting Children and Families in Ethiopia
Tags: Economic Empowerment In 2015, 158 children were reunited with their families through the work of No Ordinary Love Ministries (NOLM). The mission of NOLM is “to bless and serve people living in extreme poverty in Ethiopia, and beyond,” and one of [...]