Sending Children Back To School - Latest News!

The latest "Back to School" update from Kids Alive International Director, Matt Parker:

Dear Friends,

I am writing this letter on the aeroplane from Zambia, where I have spent a week visiting our Children’s Homes, schools and care centre programmes that work with 500 orphans and vulnerable kids. I am encouraged, having seen some amazing changes in the lives of our children in this desperately poor country. The kids in our homes are doing well. And the work is growing – last Saturday we opened another home that will be able to care for twelve more orphans needing to be loved and cared for.

At the same time I am deeply saddened to see the plight of so many children who have nothing – no homes, no family, no education, no hope for the future. I spent five days in the small town of Mongu in western Zambia. The need is huge. There are many orphans with no-one to care for them. Many of them are living on the streets. Children are dying every day from preventable causes such as malaria, malnutrition, and diarrhoea. There is a hospital – but it lacks doctors, equipment and medicines. The sight of a child lying desperately ill on the floor or a corridor because there are no beds and no nurses is heartbreaking.

Another problem faced in Mongu is a lack of schools. The ‘fortunate’ children get to study in  tiny, cramped huts made just of wood and bamboo. Yet there are a lack of pencils, books and other basic resources. Many other children in the community – like the little girl pictured above - don’t even have the opportunity of studying at one of these schools. For them, getting an education is just a distant dream.

Kids Alive International is committed to doing something about this. Four classrooms are under construction, and we hope, funding permitting, to open these in January. This means that 160 children will be able to get an education. Over the next few years we are trusting God for the funds to build FOURTEEN more classrooms, including some that will provide vocational training – woodwork, metalwork and sewing. We want to see kids that have nothing be able to go “back to school” and get the education that they deserve.

Can I encourage you to pray for the children of Mongu? Pray for their protection and safety. Pray that they would be given hope for the future. And pray that, although many have no earthly father, they would come to know a Heavenly Father who loves them passionately.

It is not just Zambia where we are working to get children “back to school”. We have education projects all around the world, including Kenya, Lebanon, Haiti,  and Peru - the needs in these countries are also great. The two girls pictured right, in Guatemala, are part of our programme and therefore are in school. There are many others that are not. Will you partner with us to help these children?

If you would like to support our Back to School appeal but have not yet done so, I would love to hear from you. Find out more here. Just £18 buys a school uniform and books for a child. £50 will help us purchase books and supplies for one of our new classrooms in Mongu. £104 will enable a child to go back to school for a whole year. Cheques can be sent to our office made out to Kids Alive International International – or you can donate securely online by clicking here...

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement for the work of Kids Alive International! It means a lot to us – and it makes a difference.

God bless you,

Matt

DONATE and help a child get BACK TO SCHOOL!

£18 will enable a child to wear a school uniform and shoes
£50 will help provide a class of children with vital school books
£104 will allow a primary-aged child to go to school for a full year
Or make a gift to be used to help as many children as possible!

THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO CHANGE A CHILD'S LIFE!