FALL 2013

HOPE worldwide

AFRICA FALL 2013:

Out of Africa

November 2013 www.hopewwafrica.org IN THIS ISSUE

Out of Africa by Dr. Mark Ottenweller

Dr. Marc Aguirre and I had two exciting meetings in Africa in the last month. Firstly, we met with the Country Directors from around Africa in Johannesburg in October, and then met with the HOPE Ivory Coast team and their community partners in Abidjan in November. In Johannesburg we met with Country Directors from Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, and South Africa for 3 days to review the progress of our Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programs supported by Coca Cola and other donors. Each child in is followed with a Child Status Index that tracks their vulnerability and progress in terms of nutrition, education, health, shelter, psychosocial support, and child protection. It is exciting to see the progress and all the efforts that the staff have made to serve the children in need. As part of our capacity building efforts, we also discussed expanding our Early Childhood Development and Women's Economic Empowerment Programs. Women’s Economic Empowerment has also been an incredible benefit to our community sites in Africa! The African programs have already trained 743 women in business and

vocational skills and now 1125 women are running their own businesses. Also 1240 women are now involved in Savings and Loan Clubs to support income generating activities. We hope to expand all these programs across Africa through corporate donors and we are excited that these programs will stabilize thousands of households that support orphans and vulnerable children in the desperately poor informal settlements where they live. Another critical discussion we had was on the importance of developing strong Risk Management policies and practices within our organizations. Marc Aguirre and I also just visited the incredible work of HOPE Ivory Coast (HOPE CI) where we work as consultants with Dr. Solange Balou and her team under the CIERA grant. The CIERA grant focuses on ensuring quality care and support to OVC and promoting HIV Prevention. CIERA is funded by the CDC. The HOPE CI team and their community partners have assisted 17,003 orphans and vulnerable children with care and support and they have provided HIV prevention activities to 40,456 adolescents, families, and high risk individuals over the last 3 years. (cont.)

Urgent Request Southern Africa sites have urgent need of funding.

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Volunteer Spotlight Brandon Whitney, an Emory University student, volunteered 10 weeks of his summer vacation interning with HOPE worldwide in Lusaka, Zambia.

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(cont.) They have also written the National Manuals for the Psychosocial Support of Children and HIV Prevention for HIV-Positive Individuals which will be used across the country. They have also started 156 small businesses for 339 local residents after the recent civil war these small businesses have done a lot for the women of the Ivory Coast who have been in desperate need of help after the war and their 321 children. The AIDS Clinic in Abidjan has treated over 22,000 patients since it opened in 1990 and many of the patients have been women and children. They have followed 2631 patients on ARVs to date and 5515 patients who receive palliative care. Solange and her staff have done a tremendous amount of work to “look after orphans and widows in their distress” and we thank God for all of their efforts. We want to thank them and all the Country Directors and their staff for their tremendous work! Many thanks for all of your help and prayers!

Donor Spotlight New York City Church We want to thank the members of the New York City Church for their support over the last 30 years. You have had a tremendous impact on the lives of people in Haiti and Africa! From the New York City for Africa Concert in the early 1990’s to the recent civil war in the Ivory Coast, you have reached out and touched people across Africa. The Abidjan AIDS Clinic was opened in 1990 near the University Hospital in Treichville, one of the large quarters of Abidjan. The clinic provided desperately needed care and support to people infected with HIV and their families. The Abidjan AIDS Clinic was one of the first AIDS clinics in West Africa and it provided free health care to poor and needy patients referred by the CDC at University Hospital. Later Anti-Retroviral Therapy was started there. Since it was opened it has cared for over 22,000 patients infected with HIV/AIDS. The New York City Church provided critical financial support and the clinic would not have developed without your

support. Thanks from the management, the staff, and all the patients that you have been helped over all these years. As the clinic grew, we began to reach out to the communities in the area that needed so much help. Large community care and support programs were started for orphans and vulnerable children and large scale programs to prevent the spread of HIV among youth were developed. Partnerships with USAID, Rotary, CDC, Coca Cola, Shell Oil, AusAid, and other donors funded the expansion of these community programs to Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Over the last 10 years those programs helped over 152,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. The New York City Church provided key support to these programs and has done a lot to help these children in need. The New York City Church has done a lot to help the relief and recovery efforts

Abidjan Program Coordinators holding up a picture of the fundraiser concert held in the early 1990’s by the New York City Church in support of the first clinic in Abidjan

from the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the civil war in the Ivory Coast in 2011. In Haiti over 600,000 meals have been served and 3845 medical consultations have been done since the earthquake. Job training was provided for 195 residents and 919 part-time and full-time jobs were created. In the Ivory Coast 281 church members received job training, 174 small businesses were started, 339 people were employed with our help. These families support 321 children through these income generating activities. These churches and the communities they serve have received a lot of help through the New York City Church. Thanks for all of your help.

For more information, please email: [email protected] HOPEww Africa is a program of HOPE worldwide's Health & Social Services (HSS) Division

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Volunteer Spotlight by Brandon Whitney

I had the joy of spending 10 weeks of my summer vacation interning with HOPE worldwide in Lusaka, Zambia, a country in southern Africa. It ranks as one of the best times I’ve ever had! The staff and volunteers overwhelmed me with love and hospitality. They do not often receive long-term visitors, but I was humbled by the care and admiration the local 150 volunteers showed me. Zambia is a nation of only around 14 million people, but among those live a staggering 1.2 million orphans. This means that at least 1 in every 12 people in Zambia is an orphaned child, and therefore may face challenges accessing food, healthcare, education, legal protection, or psychosocial support. My day

job in Zambia was to evaluate and strengthen the overall operations of their small chapter of HOPE worldwide. I especially analyzed the data that we use to show our impact on these orphans and vulnerable children, their families, and their communities. I also started building partnerships and designing an Early Child Development program to better meet the needs of the country’s young children. Given the hardships people face in Zambia, there is still a tremendous need for more workers, funding, and prayer; nonetheless, God gave me a tremendous opportunity to serve and grow in all new ways!

Please be praying for all of the needy people in Zambia. And pray for my brothers and sisters there to continue in their uncompromised devotion to helping and healing!

URGENT REQUEST!!! Thanks for all of your help in supporting our HOPE worldwide and the children that it serves in Africa. Through your help and funding for other donors we have helped over 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Africa over the last 6 years. Now, thousands of children may lose support. I want you to know about a recent development that we have discussed with the African Country Directors. Our largest corporate partner that has been a long-time supporter of our orphan work in Africa recently changed its strategic priorities and it has just informed us that it will no longer fund HIV/AIDS programs for children next year. Our partner has been funding our African work for the last 6 years at $400,000 per year. This is a significant amount of

funding and we are developing a plan to replace the critical $170,000 that we need for our Regional Office and several Southern African sites to survive next year and continue their services to children. We appreciate all of your support and we hope to raise more funds to cover this shortfall from individuals and corporations and please let us know if you can expand your support this year to help us secure core funding needed. Please let me know if you have any questions or recommendations for individuals or corporations in your area that we should pursue for funding now. Thanks for all of your help. We hope and pray that together we can continue to “bind up the brokenhearted” in Africa.

For more information, please email: [email protected] HOPEww Africa is a program of HOPE worldwide's Health & Social Services (HSS) Division