Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Africa 2015

All in God's time. That's what we kept reminding ourselves when it came to visiting Africa.  Central and South America were closer and we had a steep learning curve in our first four years. We have visited 38 orphanages primarily in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico. We still have much to learn and our work will continue there. However, with literally hundreds of requests from Africa, a growing group of volunteers, amazing donors and an established process to evaluate orphanages we believe now is the time to add Africa to our mission. The need there is enormous.

In July we will make our first trip to Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania with a mission team including board members and new volunteers who have joined our cause. In those four countries alone there are over 10 Million orphans. We know that it will be a completely different place than we've ever visited. The culture, the AIDS epidemic, the wars, the famines are a world apart from our work in Central America. With God's grace we will continue to seek the path we believe He wants us to follow. We are ready, and we will begin by visiting five orphanages in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

AHOPE Orphanage


Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Director: Mengesha Shibru
Number of Orphans: 205
ahopeforchildren.org/

We were first introduced to AHOPE via Julie Wadler, who owns a fundraising company in Virginia. In 1997, there was a need for facilities to care for orphans in Ethiopia. More and more of the orphans in care were testing positive for HIV. In 2002, a home known as the ENAT HIV Children’s Center was established exclusively for the care of orphans infected with HIV. At the same time, Kathy Olsen started a non-profit charity to assist in the funding of the home for the HIV positive children. That group is AHOPE for Children.

AHOPE stands for African HIV Orphans: Project Embrace. On July 12, 2004, the ENAT HIV Children’s Center was closed and replaced by a new NGO, AHOPE Ethiopia. The children at ENAT now lived at AHOPE Ethiopia.

Thanks to President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),in September, 2005, the first pediatric program to provide lifesaving antiretroviral medications in all of Ethiopia was establish at AHOPE Ethiopia. AHOPE partnered with Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO) and the program was administered through WWO’s newly established mediator AIDS clinic in Addis Ababa. The focus of care and outreach changed dramatically with the arrival of ARVs; what was once considered a hospice program which anticipated death AHOPE became a program of hope for a real future for every child.

Urukundo Home for Children

Location: Gitarama, Rwanda
Number of Orphans: 41
Director: Arlene Brown
hopemadereal.org/

Lisa Martolotta reached out to me in 2014 asking that we make a visit and support projects at the orphanage. She is American but currently lives with her husband and daughter in Switzterland. She spent two years in Rwanda and is chairman of the board.

Arlene Brown began her life in Africa in 1996, at the age of 65, as a relief worker in refugee camps following the Genocide. In 2004 she made a permanent move to Rwanda to work with non-profits for children. In 2006 she began her current work creating a home for children.

Hundreds of thousands of children who managed to live through the 1994 genocide and its aftermath in Rwanda are struggling for survival in desperately impoverished situations. Due to AIDS, disease, and poverty many younger children have become orphans or throw away children. 

The number of vulnerable children in Rwanda is not decreasing. They are without help. Most of them live in loneliness, neither loved nor cared for. Many children have been traumatized and the psychological consequences of invisibility and powerlessness is devastating. These circumstances overwhelm them. Most, feeling hopeless about their future, end up wandering and begging in the streets where they are routinely exploited, girls in particular. Hope Made Real believes that all children are precious and are a sign of hope for Rwanda's future.


Rift Valley Children's Village

Location: Campi, Tanzania
Number of Orphans: 92
Director: India Howell 

Former Ambassador to Tanzania Mark Green recommended we visit the Rift Valley Children’s Village (RVCV) which currently provides a permanent home for 92 orphaned children. 

The Children’s Village staff works with local village leaders to identify the children in the surrounding community most in need of the safe haven RVCV can provide. From the moment they step through the gates, these children become permanent members of the RVCV family. They prepare them to become informed, resourceful, and responsible citizens in their community and throughout Tanzania.

A team of Tanzanian social workers, international staff, and volunteers work with each child to ensure that they are physically and emotionally cared for and that they have the opportunity to learn and grow into responsible, happy, healthy adults. When they arrive, their children often suffer from malnutrition, weakened immune systems, and emotional scars. However, almost immediately, the healing process begins. Living together – doing chores alongside the Tanzanian housemothers and reading books with the volunteers – the children become members of a unique community which balances laughter and learning in equal measure.

Organized around a family model, the children live together in houses of twelve, with three Tanzanian house-mothers, one Tanzanian student teacher, and two international volunteers. 



The Village of Eden

Location:  Busia, Uganda
Number of Orphans:  24 full time
Director:  Jessica Matthews                            helpinghandsmissions.org/

Planning for the village of Eden was begun in 2008 by doctors Brenda and Richard Kowalkse of Gainesville, Georgia. Eden began with a school and is a larger ministry with an orphanage. It has a strong and vibrant base of support in Gainesville with Gainesville First United Methodist and First Baptist, churches that of were the backbone of our World Orphan Fund Gala there in 2013.

Their vision for the 133-acre complex is a Village/community with the Church at the helm of leadership. Currently they have 4 children’s duplex cottages, each with 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms (each housing 4 children), a common area, a bedroom for the housemother, and a kitchen. The cottages are home for the children, a place where they “belong,” and are loved, as well as held accountable for chores, grades, and interaction with other family members. A senior person oversees the housemothers, which are trained up widows. They are allowed to send one of their kids to school. And stay 3-4 days at a time. There are 7 housemothers.

Village of Eden Christian Primary currently has a Nursery School to Primary Four; and over time they plan to a offer secondary school, technical training, and Bible training. 100 children from the community and orphanage attend the school.

The future vocational school will encompass several programs including farming (animals and crops), baking (commercial), sewing, cosmetology, auto mechanics, woodworking (crafts), carpentry (building), cabinets/furniture, and metal/welding shops. Training in these targeted areas will help the senior children learn a trade and to produce items so that the complex can be self-sustaining.

Construction of a medical clinic began September 2014; it will be staffed by local health care providers, who will provide acute medical care for the children, staff, and surrounding community. Initially, we will offer primary care for children and adults; prenatal and postnatal care; immunizations; laboratory services; and wound care. During Phase 2 of construction, they will add Radiology Services, minor surgery, and in-patient care. 


Bright Kids Uganda

Location:  Entebbee, Uganda
Number of Orphans:  98
Director:  Victoria Nalongo
brightkidsuganda.net/

We were asked to visit Bright Kids Uganda by Carly Wilson, a Canadian volunteer working at the orphanage. BKU houses, feeds, and educates 98 children who are orphaned or otherwise desperately needy.

It wasn’t until 2000 when Victoria Nalongo was serving as Chief Commissionaire for Scouts in Uganda, when  she came face to face with the reality that actually most street kids longed for what they would call home and loving arms to run into. Victoria saw that her role could be more effective if she began her own orphanage to care for the children of Uganda and as a result she started Bright Kids Uganda. then called Sunrise Children’s Village, in April 2000.

Bright Kids Uganda provides a home and education forchildren who have been affected by violent conflicts in Northern Uganda, HIV/AIDS, poverty and abandonment.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

A Note from Montana de Luz


I received a note today (below) from Montana de Luz, an orphanage for children affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras. As you may recall, earlier this year we able to fund surgeries for three children and replace a Van that had been totaled in a crash. 

They do amazing, life altering, life saving work. To our donors who have allowed us to help this amazing mission, thank you.


Dear Friends,

Since April of 2001, Montana de Luz has been a place of refuge for 65 children with and affected by the ravages of HIV/AIDS. Since accepting the first three children in 2001, we have loved cared for, buried and celebrated the life of these precious and vulnerable children.

Just this past year, we have welcomed three new children! Four year old Erick came to us when he was orphaned  after his mother died of AIDS.

Cristal, who is eight, came to us when her mother who worked in the watermelon fields for $6 a day, could not afford to care for her. She sacrificed here own anti-retroviral therapy so that Cristal would receive the live lifesaving medication. She could not afford to send Cristal to school. The child spent her days locked in the dark and dank shack they called home, built into the side of a mountain, waiting for her mother to return. When Cristal told her mother than men were trying to break in the door while she was home alone, Cristal's mother asked MdL to take her in.

Then there is Samuel, who is eleven but looks to be about seven. When his parents died of AIDS, his aunt and uncle took him in but they were too poor to send Samuel to school. His uncle who is an alcoholic would often beat him and Samuel begged the neighbors to take him to an orphanage. When he found out he was coming to Montana de Luz he ran up and down the streets telling the neighbors he was doing to live in a happy place!

With the love, care and support Montana de Luz provides, Eric is receiving the lifesaving medication he needs, has settled in and his extended family visits regularly. Cristal is now in school and shyly shared that she received her first Christmas gift this past year. Samuel is being homeschooled and with support is working through his emotional pain and becoming more resilient every day.

With your support we are able to be a place of refuge for these children and others like them who are finding the way to the Mountain of Light. Your contribution makes this work, God's work, possible!

On behalf of the children, gracias!

Erica

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

A Miracle for Gersi



Gersi Ordonez and her twin sister were raised in one of the worst slums in Guatemala and had witnessed terrible gang violence. Her face was damaged as a young child (around age 1) The trauma crushed her facial bones and severed her nerves including the nerves to her eye (making her blind in that eye). She was not taken to the doctor at the time and developed an infection. It has always been her dream to be able to have a more normal appearance and be able to smile! Our partner organization Orphan Outreach has done all of the legwork to allow surgery to change her life. And here's the miracle. All of the doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists have agree to perform surgery for free. We just need to raise $18,200 (reduced exponentially) to pay for her hospital stay.


Gersi

There will be three procedures to get to the finish line. First is the surgery by Dr. Barcelo, Dr. Trone and Dr. Corona at Forest Park Surgery Center in Dallas Texas. They will remove Gersi’s eye, build her nasal septum (by taking part of her rib) and rebuild her cheekbone. Dr. Trone explained the process and it’s amazing that it all is done fairly quickly. She should only need to stay in the hospital overnight but she will need two weeks of recovery/staying there so they can see her to make sure there is no infection. She will then return to Guatemala. There the second procedure will take place in a Guatemalan hospital where she will get an artificial eye. Then this fall, with reanimation surgery in the United States, Gersi will be able smile once again for the first time since she was 1 year old.

Dr. Timothy Trone

This surgery would ordinarily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead, with God's grace and the doctors and nurses donating their time, the entire cost is only $18,200. 

We need your help to fund this life altering surgery. Please go to the World Orphan Fund donatation page today, choose Gersi from the pull down designation menu and make donation. 

Thanks and God bless!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

My Day Job

The other day someone mentioned that they had always thought my paid job was the World Orphan Fund. Actually, I earn a living as a political consultant during the day.

Fact is, we have no paid staff at all. We're all volunteers. What's more we have no overhead, we pay for our own travel, the costs of raising money, hosting the website, and everything else that's not a specific project  --- out of our own pockets.

We're not seeking praise. That belongs to God, His grace makes what we do possible. But it is an important reminder that when you make a donation to the World Orphan Fund, 100% of every donation goes directly into helping orphans around the world.

We've visited 30 orphanages, met over 3,300 children and we've raised about $750,000 to fund some life-changing projects. It's a blessing to be able to connect donors with needs.

If you've already donated, thank you for all of you've done to make what we do possible. If you're considering making a donation we have much to do this year and we need your help. I can guarantee that you will make a real difference in the lives of some amazing kids. Here's a link to donate.

Below is a sample of what so many have helped us to accomplish so far.

Funding for 3 Vocational Teachers.  $12,000
Casa Bernabe. Guatemala City, Guatemala


Funding a Full Time Psychologist for Abused Children $10,000
 Hope House Orphanage. Ixtlahuacan de los Mebrillos, Mexico


Special Needs Home for Boys $53,000
Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos. La Venta Honduras


Replacement of a Totalled Van $16,000
Montana De Luz Orphanage. Nueva Esperanza, Honduras.



New Boys House $75,000
Orphanage Emmanuel, Guaimaca, Honduras



Filtration System to Remove Arsenic From Drinking Water $15,000
Renacer Orphanage. Cofradia, Honduras.



New Third Grade Teacher $6,000
Hogar Suyapa. El Progreso, Honduras


Clean Drinking Water $2,500
El Refugio, Naco Honduras



 Toddler House for Boys $22,500
Orphanage Emmanuel, Guaimaca Honduras




Sunday, April 27, 2014

A Note from Casa Bernabé


Enclosed are several pics, I think speak simply for themselves, from Casa Bernabé's new Culinary Vocational program. These are 14-18 year old girls. This is, of course, 1 of 3 programs your World Orphan Fund has provided for that started last month. Again, we thank you for helping us begin our first vocation program in our 30 year existence.

When Guatemala adoptions were open to US citizens, this program was not needed, as many children were adopted long before they needed any vocation training. Now, sadly, with adoptions having been closed for 6 years, we have had to revamp. The children are aging out. While we provide education in our on-site school, many will not have attained more than a 8-9th grade education for having missed early years of school, pre-Casa Bernabé.

Our culinary vocational instructor is Cantonese/ Guatemalan. She is a solid Christian lady who loves these girls and wants them to prosper. She has skills at a level we could never have afforded, but she is the best and what God brought us! This week she is teaching the girls practicality with, "If you owned a small restaurant, what can you create for your menu with only the food currently on your shelf?" Pretty amazing! Thanks again, World Orphan Fund, for blessing these children in the way you have provided. It is changing their lives.




Monday, April 14, 2014

Vocational Training in Guatemala

Boys at Casa Bernabe, Guatemala City

Preparing older children to be successful in the outside world is critical because the outcomes are grim for orphans when they reach adulthood. Studies show that 60% of girls will prostitute themselves and 70% of boys will become criminals to survive. It doesn’t have to be this way.

That’s why we feel a strong calling to create and support vocational training programs wherever possible and in particular, those that will help girls become self-sufficient.

In January, we visited Casa Bernabe in Guatemala City and were surprised to find unused, fully equipped classrooms to teach skills like welding, hair styling, and cooking. But they hadn’t had a program in years. Why?

The classrooms sat empty because they didn’t have enough money for teachers. So, with help made possible by our donors we provided the funding for three teachers for a total cost of $12,000 annually. On Saturday I received a note from Andrew Griffin though FB about the new program:

Allow me to make your day, RJ: 
Here are the first pictures from the new, fully functioning, Casa Bernabé orphanage vocational program. It started weeks earlier than originally planned. It was a BEAR to plan these children's schedules with school around this, but we did. The buzz of all the children in the program is one of incredible excitement and even younger children want to participate. This is the welding program in our shop- all set up- up to 8 boys at times (mostly Saturday "groups" and weekday "one-on-one" classes).



The welding instructor is a local Christian guy about 35, who has worked at Casa Bernabe off and on for years. He wanted to give back to these teen boys. He himself is an incredible artisan and patient man. The girls started with culinary and hair styling last week as well and are psyched! Allow me to further rock your world by telling you that 3 weeks ago out of the blue, the government sent us a hair stylist one day a week and she saw the other 2 vocations and now 3 goverment instructors come one day a week to train OUR new instructors more and actually promise to Certify these teens when completing the program. Simply amazing timing. The Certifcation is worth it's weight in gold. We never thought that could happen...happy man? We are one happy orphanage staff. Thank you - Bless you
In four months we went from an idea of restarting a vocational program to having three up and running classes. It's always amazing to me what can happen with God's grace and a committed band of believers.

The World Orphan Fund will fund the vocational teachers for the next three years.



Monday, February 3, 2014

John McGourthy Sr.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind always be at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again, 
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Irish Blessing

This past Friday, we lost a great friend and one of our biggest cheerleaders, John D. McGourthy Sr. of Mequon, Wisconsin. He peacefully began his new journey with his loving family singing and toasting him at his side as he entered Eternal Life on January 31, 2014, at the age of 72. John and Judy had been married for 50 years and they were blessed with six children and eleven grandchildren.

I remember when I first met John at our first Gala in Milwaukee. We shared a similar ancestry and we were able to talk for nearly an hour about our beloved Ireland and I told him stories of the orphans we had met in Central America. After the Gala, he grabbed me by the arms with tears in his eyes he said: I want you to know, I'll be doing much more to help these children.

John and Judy McGourthy in 2012

And that's exactly what he did. Over the past two years, the McGourthy family has made a huge difference in the lives of orphaned children in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. With their support, we've been able to remove arsenic from water, build homes, hire teachers and feed hungry children.

There's an Irish saying Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. It means may his soul be at the right hand of God. Of that, we have no doubt.