Vulnerable Children's Fund - July 2020 Update
International
The Situation
According to James 1:7, “True religion is this, that we care for orphans and widows in their distress…” We cannot be faithful to the whole Gospel if we do not express love and care for the most vulnerable in our midst. The Outreach Foundation believes this fundamentally and believes that children are the most vulnerable of all in our sinful, broken world. And The Outreach Foundation believes that all children have the right to survive, to thrive, and to fulfill their God-given potential. This means understanding the global situations facing children everywhere and committing to helping to provide access to basic services, care, and education to the children in their (Outreach’s) spheres of influence.
In the church, and around the world, there is an effort to provide comprehensive care for vulnerable children that addresses the physical, emotional, educational, social, and spiritual life of every child, recognizing that they are each created in God’s image. The ultimate focus is on value and dignity for children and their families.
Child vulnerability includes those who are separated from family and loving caregivers, children who live in poverty or unhealthy environments, and those who are traumatized. Children make up less than one-third of the global population, but they are more than 50% of the world’s refugee population and in East Africa, children are almost 65% of the refugee population. It is impossible to estimate the number of children who are living on the streets or being of the streets (referred to as “streetism”). They are highly vulnerable to stigma, violence and abuse, poor health, and incarceration.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk for hundreds of thousands of migrating, marginalized, and invisible children. Disruptions in childcare and essential interventions such as vaccinations and health services have greatly affected children. School closures have interrupted learning opportunities and many school-based feeding and nutrition programs. The Outreach Foundation, utilizing COVID appeal funds, has assisted many partners around the world to address issues affecting vulnerable children and their families.
The Impact
Previous gifts to the Vulnerable Children’s Fund have enabled The Outreach Foundation to assist partners in support of orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.
Funds for this project also enabled Outreach to organize the first Transforming Child Care seminar for children’s home managers in Kenya, in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. This was seminal work, recognizing and educating people around the need to keep children in families and preserve and support families, rather than institutionalize them.
THANK YOU for your support of the whole Gospel message to these children.
Frank Dimmock
Africa Mission Specialist
Read more about the Vulnerable Children’s Fund HERE.
THE NEED
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts totaling $25,000 for the Vulnerable Children’s Fund, which will be used to support community schools in Zambia, preschools in the refugee camps of western Ethiopia, childhood trauma healing groups in those same camps, and continued feeding and scholarship support to orphans that have aged out of the institutions in which they were raised. You may make a gift HERE or by sending a check to our office.