Mikinduri Children of Hope

Our very first project was assisting the local leaders to feed hungry orphans, widowers, and widows. One of our feeding centers is at Kinwe, just outside Mikinduri, where we have been given fives acres of good arable land by the government, and where we have constructed a very nice building which serves not only as our feeding location for about 75 to 100 people each day, but also serves as a community center for many other activities. For example on Saturdays, we have teachers who work with the children, teaching them life skills, as well as playing organized sports like soccer. We have been very aggressive in our efforts to try to make these centers self-sustaining, by growing our own crops, raising our own animals, and by utilizing the local parents as volunteers, to collect wood, draw water and tend to the various gardens and animals. In return, the volunteers are taught more advanced farming techniques and are given better quality seeds, and fruit tree saplings, etc, to plant on their own farms. It is our hope that within six months the center will be completely self-sustaining.

Our second feeding center has only been operating for about eight or nine months. It is located in Kagwuru, where the poorest people live. The badly dilapidated school serves as our feeding center. Once again, the government has given us the use of 13 acres of land, which has been planted and which should yield the first crop soon. We are already seeing the results of the feeding program here by having more children attend school. The school is supposed to have approximately 330 students, but because of malnutrition the numbers have dwindled to about 200. That number is now being dramatically increased. Once again it is our hope that this feeding center will be self-reliant by mid-2009.