Orphaned, homeless, and vulnerable children are one of the greatest devastations facing some African communities at this present time. Desperation has become a driving force for these children, where they live one day to the next in the hope of merely surviving. In this desperation, they make sacrifices and compromises in order to simply eat a meal or have a place to sleep for the night, trading in their innocence and virtue as children to simply fill their bellies.
As a direct result of AIDS, the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is now in decline. Parents are dying, leaving their children to fend for themselves on the streets or as indentured servants to other relatives.
Unite 4 Africa is working in villages and communities to provide orphans with homes and families with whom they will live and grow. With prayer and wisdom, U4A meets with local leaders, demonstrating the value of caring for the orphans of their own community themselves by placing them within the families in their own communities. This increases accountability within the community and the precious children are redeemed from deplorable situations into the safety of a family unit.
The family unit within the community creates a nurturing environment where the orphan receives a healthy diet, medication if needed, and a quality education that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
Unite 4 Africa focuses on a two-fold strategy of addressing the immediate needs for relief for the child while ensuring the long-term, independent sustainability of care. Orphan care begins with addressing the immediate needs of the child, getting him or her off the streets, placing the child in caring, local families, assessing the dietary and health needs of the child, as well as providing for educational needs, such as school uniform, books, or shoes. Mosquito nets and medications are provided where they are needed as well. These needs are met through monthly financial support for a specific short-term period that is flexible depending on circumstances.
In keeping with the model of empowerment, the orphans will receive a gift of a goat, chicken, sheep, pig, or cow. The orphan is taught how to properly care for his or her animal, raising it up to produce milk or eggs, and then reproducing. These things can be used as contributions to the family taking care of the child or can be sold in markets for profit. This provides an orphan who formerly had nothing at all to claim as his or her own to now have a great sense of self-worth, confidence, and empowerment to be a strong contributor to the general health of a community.
The goal of this project is to allow the orphans to provide for their own support through the profit that comes from the production and reproduction of the animals. U4A is currently caring for children ranging in age from 3 to 17 years old. We are praying for supporters to come alongside of us to empower the children and to enable families to raise up these children to be strong men and women of God.
We believe that God intended each child to have a father and mother figure. And for that reason we strongly believe that orphans need families, not institutions. For less than .85 cents a day you can sponsor a child in the villages where we are ministering across Africa. With a monthly commitment of $38 you can make a transformational difference in the life of a child in desperate need.
Donate now so that your generous gift will help where it’s needed most.