AFRICAN COUNTRIES (3)

The Kenya Abandoned Baby Center opened in August 2001 to address this terrible situation. Many of the babies are brought to us barely alive. These abandoned children come with nothing--no names, not even birthdays. But here at the ABC, they're given new life and real hope for a brighter future! Staffed with medical and child-development professionals, our ABC is equipped to help meet the special needs of these babies, beginning with nourishing food, critical medical care and a loving home!

This innovative five-acre facility, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, has a medical center, playrooms and care cottages to help babies recover, grow and thrive. Our Abandoned Baby Center is much more than a children's home. It is a lifesaving haven.

FEED THE CHILDREN

Learn more about how you can help

When a baby is brought to the Abandoned Baby Center, it is usually his or her last chance for life.

Many babies come to the Abandoned Baby Center (ABC) as orphans, their parents dead or dying from the AIDS epidemic that is killing 700 people a day in Kenya. Because of their circumstances, desperately poor and sick mothers are abandoning their infants, thinking they will die otherwise. Most of these babies are suffering from infections, worms, malnutrition and severe medical conditions.

When a baby first arrives at the ABC, he or she is bathed and immediately examined by a member of the ABC's medical team. Some require immediate and dramatic medical intervention; others get IV fluids to help their vital organs begin functioning properly again. Most babies who come to the ABC require an intense feeding schedule of high-protein infant formula given every three hours.

Whatever it takes, we do everything we can to help that baby survive and become who they were meant to be. With the support of friends like you, we can continue to rescue more little ones who desperately need our help.

Your gift of just $9 per month will help feed and care for an abandoned or orphaned baby. It's the most important $9 you'll ever spend.

* The initial class of 11 students from the Centre Memorial de Gisimba orphanage supported by ORI finishes their first year of study at some of the best universities in Rwanda in December 2005.

* In September 2005, ORI funded 14 more talented students from the Centre Memorial de Gisimba and the Village de la Paix Orphanage to begin their university educations. As more funding becomes available, ORI is expanding rapidly. For the 2006 academic year, ORI has committed to funding an additional 24 students to pursue college degrees.

* Working with Partners In Health, ORI is supporting the education of 58 primary and secondary school students in the rural eastern region of the country. These students are the children of people living with HIV/AIDS who receive medical care from Partners In Health. While the adults are being treated for their HIV infections, many of them have trouble supporting their families. By providing scholarship help to their children, ORI gives these families hope for the future.

* ORI has worked with all of the students we support to identify challenges and address them quickly and effectively to ensure that they have what they need to flourish. This has included, for example, providing access to libraries and purchasing additional textbooks and materials when necessary. In the near future, we hope establish a system for providing tutoring to students who experience academic difficulties.

HEALTH CARE

Having grown up without proper medical care, many of the children and young adults we support face a heightened risk of disease. ORI is planning a comprehensive survey of healthcare needs during 2006, but has already begun to address the most common and significant medical problems:

* In every orphanage we support, ORI currently helps to ensure that children at risk for HIV/AIDS obtain testing and proper care and treatment. Through ORI-sponsored testing, a number of children have been diagnosed as HIV-positive. In cooperation with doctors at Kigali Central Hospital who have volunteered their own time and efforts, ORI staff members have succeeded in enrolling these HIV+ children in treatment programs that promise to extend their lives indefinitely.

* ORI has recently begun to help its partners tackle the threat posed by malaria. Malaria not only interferes with the children's education, but can be potentially deadly if untreated. By installing insecticide-treated bed nets for every single child at both the Centre Memorial de Gisimba and the Village de la Paix, ORI has helped these orphanages protect their children from this deadly disease.

* A number of the university students we support suffer from chronic health problems. ORI addresses these issues on a case-by-case basis and tries to ensure that each student has access to high-quality care.

* ORI is exploring a partnership with Unite for Sight, a US-based nonprofit that sends volunteer teams to developing countries to diagnose and treat eyesight problems. A UFS team would be able to provide eyeglasses to every single ORI-supported student with impaired vision, and would also train locals to provide ongoing eye care for the future.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Where appropriate, ORI provides targeted funding to upgrade an orphanage's buildings, grounds or utilities. Progress to date has included the following projects:

* With ORI support, the Village de la Paix orphanage in Kigali has been able to install both running water and electricity. These basic amenities have had an instant impact on the lives of the more than 70 children who currently live at the orphanage.

* Thanks to a generous in-kind donation, ORI has delivered a shipment of computers to Kigali and is setting up computer laboratories at its partner orphanages there. As Rwanda develops, computer skills are quickly becoming among the most important factors in finding employment after graduation. By providing orphanages with computers and access to the Internet, ORI will make it possible for students to develop the skills they need to compete for jobs as well as to learn about the world beyond Rwanda's borders.

* ORI is currently working with its partner orphanages to purchase and install electrical generators. Due to frequent power outages, much of Kigali is without electricity every evening. To ensure that the students we support can study without interference, reliable electricity is indispensable.

STRATEGY

Responding to the priorities our local partners have expressed, our strategy flows directly from our mission. While ORI's partners are usually able to provide for most essential childhood needs, they lack funds to enable their young people to pursue higher education. Even those who graduate from high school are unable, lacking family connections, to compete in the job market. With no means of providing for themselves, they remain dependent on outside support. Consequently, many orphans of the genocide and epidemic disease have reached their mid-twenties, yet continue to live in an orphanage.

ORI responds directly to this problem by helping students pursue a university education. Our holistic package of support -- covering tuition, housing, nutrition, transportation, healthcare, books and supplies -- enables university students to live outside orphanages and to manage their own finances. This transitional experience is critical as orphans become self-sufficient and begin to rejoin their communities. Despite growing up without a family or any significant resources, the students we support have overcome trauma to succeed in primary and secondary school and display tremendous enthusiasm for continuing that success at the university level

ORI also works to ensure that younger children have everything they need to excel as they work toward university, including:

* Access to healthcare, including prevention and treatment for HIV/AIDS and malaria.

* A productive learning environment, with reliable electricity, clean drinking water, access to computers, and other resources.

* Stopgap support to ensure a continuous educational experience when other donors are temporarily unable to fund primary and secondary school fees.

VISION

ORI's basic model is one of direct support to individuals. Ultimately, however, ORI hopes to effect change on a systemic level. In a country as small and poor as Rwanda, a few hundred orphans graduating from university can transform the pool of intellectual capital and drive economic growth. Fewer than 1 in 200 adults in Rwanda have a college degree, and Rwanda's universities together graduate only a few thousand students each year, most of them male and wealthy. The disadvantaged students who do make it to university often must choose their field of study based on what they can afford. For instance, the high cost of nursing school has led to a dire shortage of highly trained nurses in Rwanda, crippling the country's ability to respond to the AIDS epidemic. By enabling a growing cadre of underprivileged orphans -- both female and male -- to join the ranks of Rwanda's intellectual elite, ORI will have a significant and positive impact on Rwanda's future.

“It is these ordinary people we must urge to be in the forefront in ensuring that every child is given a chance of going to school, of developing his human potential, because the children will respond to us in accordance with how we nurture them.” —Nelson Mandela

RECENT PROGRESS – HIGHLIGHTS

* Expanded Support: ORI recently selected its third class of university scholarship recipients. This talented class of 23 students brings the total number of ORI-supported university students to 52. ORI-sponsored students now study a wide range of subjects, from law to dentistry, at nine different universities in Rwanda. Each year, ORI attracts more applicants and the selection process becomes more competitive. This class is our most qualified yet.

* New Partnerships: As ORI expands its presence across Rwanda it has also added two new partners. The first, the Fred Nkunda Orphanage is among the best-run orphanages in Rwanda. The second, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a pan-African NGO that runs a highly regarded girls’ secondary school in Kigali and administers a nationwide high school scholarship program for girls. Both of these new partners were involved in selecting this year’s scholarship class.

* Business Opportunities: ORI believes strongly that the students we support should continue learning outside of school. We are currently researching the market opportunity for a bakery that would employ ORI-supported students and produce high-end specialty baked goods for wealthy institutional, international and local clients. Under ORI supervision, a group of scholarship recipients have been helping to develop the business plan for this project.

* Health Clinic: ORI has recently established a health clinic to provide primary care to over 200 ORI-supported university students and young children living at the Gisimba Memorial Center orphanage. Clinic staff will screen and treat common illnesses, coordinate access to secondary and tertiary care, and work with ORI staff to conduct health education programs. Education programs will include sexual and reproductive health, hygiene and family planning.

* Fundraising: On September 27, 2007, ORI hosted a fundraising event at the PM lounge in New York City. Guest speakers Paul Farmer and Josh Ruxin spoke enthusiastically to a crowd of over 300 ORI supporters. Dr. Farmer described the ORI philosophy as the beginning of a movement towards the right to university education for those who need it, not only for those who can afford it.

* Unite for Sight: ORI recently partnered with Unite for Sight-Rwanda to conduct an eye care screening at Gisimba Memorial Center. Over the course of two days, Unite for Sight volunteers were able to screen university scholarship recipients and residents of the orphanage. For many students, this was their first-ever eye exam. ORI is currently in the process of coordinating follow-up consultations and providing glasses for students in need.

THE OBJECTIVES OF CCC

* Caring

The orphans, street kids and widows need a safe and loving environment, nutritious meals, love, protection and a clean home. They also need physical, spiritual and emotional healing.

* Discipleship

- The Children, Youths and Widows need a strong moral foundation based on Biblical principles. They need to know God, experience Him and make Him known to others.

* Community Development

-The Community needs clean water, medical services, knowledge in better farming methods and credit and saving unions that will help their families to be able to afford a better home and education.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS.

There are very many orphans AND widows within the Christ Care locality. The number increases every year due to HIV/AIDS, tobacco smoking diseases and other causes of death. Christ Care Centre has to try and assist as much as possible. Due to increasing number of HIV related deaths of married couples, the number of street kids in the nearby town of Migori is increasing and Christ Care Centre has to stand as a place of hope for these street children. We need to provide them with food and clothing and even start a food and clothing center for street children in the heart of the town.

Immorality and sexual abuse are very high within the local people. This is in part contributed to by the traditions and culture of the local people. The ministry has the mandate to reach the community with strong moral foundations based on Biblical principles to save them from HIV/AIDS and other sexually related sicknesses.

Most of the youths within Christ Care locality grow, sell and use drugs, especially bhang/marijuana. Many people from the locality are in jail due to this drug. Those arrested using/selling these drugs are jailed for not less than seven years. Doctors say, “If you smoke only one roll of marijuana which costs Kshs 20, and then stop smoking, it will take seven years to completely come out of your system.”

Most local people neither know God nor have a personal relationship with God. The local churches are doing very little to reach the locals, so we have to join forces with the churches to reach these hungry souls.

The community does not have clean water. They use dirty water for drinking and for their domestic uses. The community needs clean water boreholes to help stop the spread of waterborne diseases.

The community does not have a school. Children walk several kilometers to reach the nearby school. The community thus needs a nursery, primary and secondary school. There is also need for a polytechnic/college/tertiary college and university. 80% of the locals are very illiterate and therefore there is need for adult education.

The community needs to have a nearby medical facility. The nearest government medical facility is several kilometers away and this has led to:
* Many pregnant women dying during their time of giving birth due to lack of doctors/midwives.
* Many young children not being immunized amongst other related emergencies. The hospitals in the nearby town are also very crowded and expensive.

The locals have land, but they need an education on how to make good use of their land. The ministry needs to educate local farmers how best to use their farms, especially on what type of crops to grow and how to grow them. Most farmers grow and smoke tobacco. They need to be educated on the dangers of growing tobacco, smoking it and drying it. There are many cash crops that they can be advised on to grow other than tobacco, which is harmful to their health.

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT.

Christ Care Centre is around 13 kilometers out of Migori town, within Uriri division, south Kanyamkago Location and Bware Sub-location. The locals of Christ Care community are as follows:
* Maragolis 55%
* Luos 30%
* Kisii 10%
* Others 5%

The estimated population of the Christ Care locality is over 40, 000 people (men, women and children). The area is 7 Km 2 .The locals are very happy about the project and they are very supportive in most cases. The setting, social and population group affects us to an extent that we have to put in mind all the tribes when employing or admitting children at risk to the center, otherwise the whole project can be branded a tribal affair and this can close the door to our evangelism team.

THE ORPHANAGE

This is the Christ Care Caring department which is out to show God’s love to the needy by reaching, raising and restoring hurting, abandoned orphans, street children and widows in the community. The orphanage is currently caring for 23 orphans between the ages of 7 and 19 years. 17 of them are orphans and former street kids while the rest are from extremely poor families.

The unit provides them with a secure environment, where they will receive food, shelter and education that teaches them to be principled in decision making and equip them in critical life skills that will assist them to be productive citizens who will make a positive contribution to their community.

MISSIONARY DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING SCHOOL.

This is a department that gives children, youths and widows an opportunity to know and experience God in a life long friendship and to mobilize them to bring good news to other people. Its aim is to teach the local Youths about God and to prepare them to be MESSENGERS of God to all ends of the World. It helps youths develop a daily walk with God rather than to accumulate information.

The unit runs two schools in a year: March through August and September through February. Students from all walks of life willing to learn are welcomed. The program entails a four-month lecture phase (4 days per week) and a two-months outreach exercise. This unit of the Christ Care Centre also comprises of an evangelistic team whose goal is to reach the community with the Word of God. This is done through Conferences, Open-air meetings, and Prayer meetings.

To apply for the MDTS, contact Lilian at lilyadema@yahoo.com

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. BUYING LAND: The Centre managed to buy a farming land which now is the chief income generator in June 2002. The farm dubbed "CC FARM" produces Products for the Centre's consumption. Among the crops planted in the centre's farm include, maize, cabbages and bananas.

2. OPENING AN OUTREACH POINT: Under the leadership of Wicklife Omendah, the GLOBAL YOUTH EVANGELISTIC TEAM opened an outreach point at Nagumo Kilgoris Maasai land, Kenya in April 2006. Nagumo is one of the marginalised areas in Kenya and therefore has no means of transportation, no schools, no hospitals or churches. A dweller and well-wisher here offered a piece of land for a Church building so that this very traditional people can know about God. The building exercise is yet to begin when the funds will be available but the team is on with its mission.

BIOGRAPHIES

WICKLIFE was born on September 24, 1980. Most of his childhood was spent in the streets as he had no parents to take care of him. He finished his elementary/primary education while still a street child in 1997. Due to his good performance in the final elementary examinations, the Provincial Administration requested Covenant Childrens Home in Kisumu to help him go through his High School Education and four years later, he graduated from High School with good grades.

Due to the high cost of education in Kenya, he was unable to attend University. Instead, he and Lilian (Whom he had known since High School) together with Isaac Karafa started the Christ Care Centre in 2002. In the same year, he and Lilian were married.

LILIAN was born on 11th August, 1983. Her father died in 1997 while she was in her 8th grade in elementary school. A year later, she joined High School but was forced to drop out of school in the 12th grade because her single mother could not raise her school fees.

Both Wicklife and Lilian completed their Discipleship course in 2004 at Athi River base in Kenya at Ministry of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), an international missionary training organization. In the year 2006, Wicklife completed his Principles in Child and Youth Ministries course with one of the YWAM bases in Tanzania. Though the couple has gone through lots of challenges in most of their lifetime, they still will be happy to further their education. The couple were blessed with their first born son, Samuel Cliff on December 12, 2003.

Visit CCC at: CHRIST CARE MINISTRIES