Orphan Programs
Our Angels in Africa
A friend writes:
On the road I saw a small girl, cold and shivering in a tattered dress, with no home, no family and little hope.
I became angry and said to God: Why did you let this happen? Why don’t you do something.
For a while God said nothing, then that night he quietly replied, ‘I did do something
- I made you.’
The tragedy of millions of orphaned children has been called “Africa’s Silent Crises”.
We call them our Angels in Africa.
The real possibility of losing an entire generation of people cannot be ignored. We have a generation of children vulnerable to abandonment, exploitation, disease and loss of any self-worth. Caring for these children is a moral imperative that all of us share.
In the past, when children were abandoned by their parents or orphaned it was the custom within the culture for them to be cared for by extended family members. Today, this is not possible as the devastating loss of so many parents plus the pressure of poverty has resulted in the break down of the extended family. For many children, the loss of their parents brings the end of schooling and stigmatization by family and neighbors.
Providing safe housing, clean water, meals, education, medical care and nurturing is a responsibility of all of us, regardless of where we live on this earth.
Keeping these children in school is crucial in improving their prospects and securing their future. A good education can give a child a higher self-esteem, better job opportunities and a hope for economic independence. As well as lifting them out of poverty, an education will give them the knowledge to protect themselves from AIDS and other diseases.
Schools can also provide other benefits to children through emotional support and care.
Unfortunately, often orphans are the first to be denied any education when their extended families or guardians cannot afford to educate all the children in the home.
What We Do
In addition to providing direct support to families struggling with the caring of orphans, with school fees, family allowances and health education, UCF is a leader in building schools in remote rural areas.
These schools are available to all children of the area where the majority of the students are orphaned. The schools provide safe dormitory housing for both girls and boys who do not have any other home. School fees are paid for many of the students by generous UFC donors who desire to help children obtain an education.
We believe it is best to assist families in keeping the children in a family home environment. When this is not possible, boarding at their local school, close to their families and communities is the best option. This will allow them to visit family often and remain connected with the local village. It also helps their families stay involved in their education process.
When these children have access to education, they also receive proper medical care, meals, shelter and clothing. They do not become victims of neglect and child abuse.
By restoring the children their rights to basic needs gives them internal growth that enables them to function as a viable independent person.
With your help we can continue supporting these children and preventing them from migrating to large towns and cities where they often turn to the sex trade, petty crime, and digging through trash dumpsters to find food scraps to eat.
They become street children who roam in the most desperate slums and in many cases live below the standard of how we would treat an animal.
Their plight can be over whelming. But as Mother Teresa once replied when she was asked how she dealt with all the poor in Calcutta, she simply said, one at a time.
You can also help these children, one at a time, by your donation today. Any amount large or small can make a huge difference. $150 will pay school tuition for one term.
$35 will provide a school uniform. $360 will provide a child with meals, shelter and medical care for one term.
Please take a moment today and consider helping at least one child; your Angel in Africa.
