Stories

Reducing Stigma: Retrak’s Model of Reunifying Street Children With Families

Tags: Economic Empowerment For any child longing to be reunited with his or her family, the emotional and psychological hurdles can be enormous. This is particularly true for children being reintegrated with their families and communities after living on the streets—due to a range of issues, including family breakdown, death of a parent, and poverty. Street children, in some ways, live their lives in the shadows. They are often forced into unpaid labor positions or a lifestyle of begging. Yet despite the aspects of life that are largely unseen, the stigma attached to a child who has [...]

Reducing Stigma: Retrak’s Model of Reunifying Street Children With Families2024-01-17T17:48:46-05:00

The Long Road Back: Transitioning to Family Care in Rwanda

Tags: Transitioning In Rwanda, an estimated 860,000 children and young people have lost one or both parents from the 1994 genocide, HIV and AIDS, or poverty. The strain that this has placed on families is overwhelming. In 2012 there were 3,300 children living in 33 institutions, commonly known as orphanages, across the country. Hope and Homes for Children (HHC), an organization working to place vulnerable children in family-based care and prevent institutional care for children, is partnering with the Rwandan government, UNICEF, and other partners to transition children out of all 33 institutions and into [...]

The Long Road Back: Transitioning to Family Care in Rwanda2024-01-17T17:45:03-05:00

Project RED: Empowering Families for Abundant Lives

Tags: Community Strengthening El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Latin America and has the unfortunate standing as one of the world’s most violent countries. With this reality comes widespread poverty and a breakdown of the family structure across society. Publicly funded programs and an adequate protection system to ensure the wellbeing of children simply do not exist. In 2009, upheaval once again become a reality for orphans living in institutions, with the introduction of a new law called Law for Integral Child and Adolescent Protection (LEPINA), which is drawn from the UN Convention of [...]

Project RED: Empowering Families for Abundant Lives2024-01-17T17:43:46-05:00

Children in Families: A Community Approach to Reintegration

Tags: Foster Care | Transitioning Everyone in Kampong knows Sopheat* — his mischievous laugh, his lively personality, his story. Sopheat was among the very first children to be placed with a foster family in Kampong, a Cambodian village of sweeping rice paddies and swaying sugar palm trees. Sopheat’s street is now home to several other children living with foster families, and over the past few years their village has welcomed 35 children previously living in vulnerable situations. Children in Families (CIF) is a Christian organization in Cambodia working to reintegrate at-risk children into families. Many of [...]

Children in Families: A Community Approach to Reintegration2024-01-17T19:16:10-05:00

HelpKids Centre: Supporting the Love of Families in Sri Lanka

Tags: Transitioning | Economic Empowerment Family-based, alternative care for orphans and vulnerable children is on the rise in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Alison Atkinson and her husband Narel joined Australian Christian Churches International Relief (ACCI) 10 years ago, as field workers in Colombo. They established the HelpKids Centre, a local, community-based organization that strengthens local families living in slums and severe poverty. It functions as a community center, providing early childhood education, daycare support, counseling for parents, and medical assistance, supports women in accessing vocational training, and coordinates women’s and children’s clubs. The Atkinson’s approach to [...]

HelpKids Centre: Supporting the Love of Families in Sri Lanka2024-01-17T19:15:06-05:00

The GO Exchange: Creating Jobs, Giving Hope, Strengthening Families

Tags: Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment Makilene was an unemployed mother of six and living in extreme poverty in Haiti. She realized over time that she could no longer care for all her children, so she faced the heartbreaking decision to give up her youngest child and took her child and traveled to Port-Au-Prince. She had heard about a woman named Shelley Clay who helps children. Makilene thought she was knocking on the door of an orphanage for her infant daughter when she arrived in Port-Au-Prince, but a very different opportunity awaited her — one with hope [...]

The GO Exchange: Creating Jobs, Giving Hope, Strengthening Families2024-01-17T19:12:59-05:00

The Jubilee Centre: Transforming Zambian Communities through the Local and Global Church

Tags: Community Strengthening In 1999 Lawrence and Martha Temfwe founded the Jubilee Centre in Zambia. The center empowers and trains churches in under-resourced communities to give integral care to all people — especially orphans and vulnerable children — and bring change to their communities. Currently, they are serving over 94 churches and have a staff of 13 people. Zambia has a great need for community-based orphan care. “Zambia has a long road ahead,” says Lawrence Temfwe. In this country, over 1,700,000 are orphans and vulnerable children, which is 12 percent of the population, and nearly [...]

The Jubilee Centre: Transforming Zambian Communities through the Local and Global Church2024-01-17T19:11:29-05:00

World Relief: Savings for Life

Tags: Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment Margret unexpectedly found herself as the sole breadwinner for her five children — three girls and two boys. She was overwhelmed and left with little hope. “It was as if all the gates and doors of hope in life for us were closed leaving us in a dark room,” she said. Her oldest daughter Mwende had just become a candidate to advance in Kenya’s primary school with the hope of continuing secondary education the following year. However, Margret struggled to make ends meet by going from house to house [...]

World Relief: Savings for Life2024-01-17T19:08:42-05:00

Pioneering Foster Care in Peru

Tags: Foster Care | Economic Empowerment In May 2007, Buckner Peru and Peru's National Comprehensive Family Welfare Program (INABIF) signed an agreement to develop a foster care program. On March 10, 2008, Buckner Peru made history when officials from the Ministry of Women and Social Development and Buckner placed eight Peruvian children into the country’s first foster families. Prior to this significant event, there was no foster care in Peru. Nearly seven years later, children are thriving in families in ways that would have been unknown to them without the foster care option. Their foster [...]

Pioneering Foster Care in Peru2024-01-17T19:06:30-05:00

Bopoma Villages: Strengthening Rural Zimbabwean Communities

Tags: Community Strengthening Bopoma Villages is a faith-based organization providing clean water, food security, and orphan care in Zimbabwe. Strengthening a community strengthens families within it, and this organization is able to provide direct and indirect care for orphans and vulnerable children within their communities and families. Bopoma Villages works in 10 villages in or just outside of Zaka, a rural area of Zimbabwe. Unemployment in this area is estimated to be over 80%. Many children and families lack the most basic necessities and live in severe deprivation. Child-headed households and those headed by elderly [...]

Bopoma Villages: Strengthening Rural Zimbabwean Communities2024-01-17T19:05:08-05:00

Bethany’s Foster-to-Adopt Program

Tags: Foster Care The family unit is at the core of African culture and society; decisions are family decisions and the emphasis is placed on the collective will rather than the individual. When a child becomes an orphan because of poverty, war, death, illness, or some other cause, relatives will often take in a child. However, the idea of taking in a child who is not from one’s own family or tribe is a newer concept. Ethiopia, home to 80 million people, has over 5 million orphans or vulnerable children. The government child welfare system in Ethiopia [...]

Bethany’s Foster-to-Adopt Program2024-01-17T19:03:35-05:00

Care for Children: Seeking to place 1M Chinese orphans into local family care

Tags: Foster Care Lu Lu* is from Daxing, China (a suburb of Beijing) and was in institutional care from birth until he was four-years-old. When he was young, he was diagnosed with congenital heart disease and at the age of four, he was removed from institutional care and placed with a foster family. At first, the transition was difficult. He was withdrawn, had no interest in playing with toys, and would rarely speak. However, after living with his family for over three years, Lu Lu’s behavior transformed. Care for Children’s vision is for one million children [...]

Care for Children: Seeking to place 1M Chinese orphans into local family care2024-01-17T19:33:06-05:00

A Family of His Own

Tags: Foster Care | Transitioning | Economic Empowerment He has one of those personalities that you can’t forget. His nickname “Pastor” came from his love of standing up surrounded by a crowd of his peers preaching from the Bible. Captain America or Iron Man might even at times make an appearance on the Sea of Galilee. Nine-year-old Jason, brings a continual joy and laughter to those who know him. Although Jason’s joy is palpable, the road in his short life has had its share of challenges. Born to a mother with schizophrenia, Jason [...]

A Family of His Own2024-01-17T19:31:35-05:00

Staying Engaged Throughout the Year

Tags: Community Strengthening Burke Presbyterian Church is a 600-member church located in Burke, Virginia, within commuting distance of Washington, DC. In 1988, Burke began a partnership with the churches near the rural village of Kibwezi, Kenya, to minister to those in greatest need. This relationship, now spanning over two decades, has become integral to Burke’s identity. […]

Staying Engaged Throughout the Year2024-01-17T19:37:58-05:00

Partnering to Make a Difference in Ethiopia

Both demographically and chronologically, City Church is a young church. Founded in 2007 and based in Tallahassee, Florida, the church’s membership is made up mostly of students and young professionals. City Church’s passion for outreach “in an ever-changing culture” is reflected in its meeting places, beginning with the high school auditorium where services were first held, to its current home in a warehouse and the local nightclub where Easter and Christmas services meet each year. […]

Partnering to Make a Difference in Ethiopia2024-01-17T19:25:40-05:00

From Church to Child, Church and Community

Tags: Community Strengthening The Journey Church, a 175-member church in San Jose, California, is a small church making a big difference for orphans and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe. It all began when The Journey’s pastor joined a fellow church member on a trip led by World Vision to the rural community of Limpopo. Returning to their home church, the men shared what they had seen: heartbreaking loss due to poverty and HIV/AIDS, as well as life-saving work being done to address the issue. The Journey was inspired to take action and [...]

From Church to Child, Church and Community2024-01-17T19:24:35-05:00

Partnering with the Local Church & Supporting Families to Care for Their Children

Tags: Transitioning | Economic Empowerment Meeting the needs of orphans and vulnerable children is often best accomplished through partnerships with the local communities and ministries who are leading the day-to-day responses. The Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) supports this principal in their work on behalf of children and families in Zambia. ACE is a Christian nonprofit child welfare organization in Tucson, Arizona that was founded in 1969 by Virginia “Jennie” Woods. ACE’s overarching approach to caring for orphans is to empower professionals, families, churches and communities to care for and support children and families in crisis within [...]

Partnering with the Local Church & Supporting Families to Care for Their Children2024-01-17T19:22:24-05:00

Staying Engaged Throughout the Year

Burke Presbyterian Church is a 600-member church located in Burke, Virginia, within commuting distance of Washington, DC. In 1988, Burke began a partnership with the churches near the rural village of Kibwezi, Kenya, to minister to those in greatest need. This relationship, now spanning over two decades, has become integral to Burke’s identity. Everyone at Burke Presbyterian Church knows the word Kibwezi! Over the years, Burke’s engagement, coupled with resources mobilized by Kibwezi area churches, has supported a range of locally led initiatives helping hundreds of children and families. These initiatives have included the building and staffing of a primary [...]

Staying Engaged Throughout the Year2024-01-17T19:34:17-05:00

Partnering to Make a Difference in Ethiopia

Both demographically and chronologically, City Church is a young church. Founded in 2007 and based in Tallahassee, Florida, the church’s membership is made up mostly of students and young professionals. City Church’s passion for outreach “in an ever-changing culture” is reflected in its meeting places, beginning with the high school auditorium where services were first held, to its current home in a warehouse and the local nightclub where Easter and Christmas services meet each year. In addition to drawing in large numbers of young people—including many guests who are not regular churchgoers—these two special services have become a way for [...]

Partnering to Make a Difference in Ethiopia2024-01-17T19:34:03-05:00

From Church to Child, Church and Community

The Journey Church, a 175-member church in San Jose, California, is a small church making a big difference for orphans and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe. It all began when The Journey’s pastor joined a fellow church member on a trip led by World Vision to the rural community of Limpopo. Returning to their home church, the men shared what they had seen: heartbreaking loss due to poverty and HIV/AIDS, as well as life-saving work being done to address the issue. The Journey was inspired to take action and begin raising both awareness and support. The Journey decided to partner with [...]

From Church to Child, Church and Community2024-01-17T19:33:51-05:00

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