What We Do - African Childrens Haven
African Childrens Haven serves more than 700 children and their families. Our projects focus on the most vulnerable members of society, especially orphans and girls. Because we ourselves are small, we can provide services directly to children that might not otherwise receive support from large non-profits or international donors. Here’s a summary of what we do:

Orphan Care

 
When we first met them, most of the kids at Kenya’s Happy Home Orphanage were recovering from malnutrition and none had ever attended school. By the end of 2016, many of the children shown in this 2007 photo had graduated from primary school, a huge achievement for any African child let alone an AIDS orphan living in a rural community. Caring for orphan children is at the heart of what we do. Because of AIDS, hundreds of thousands of African children are without parents and must fend for themselves.

African Childrens Haven provides support to four orphan care programs in some of the areas hardest hit by the disease.

Preventing Childhood Marriage and Genital Mutilation

 
Female genital mutilation and childhood marriage is still an all-too-common practice in many parts of Africa where girls are considered property and where poverty often drives people to sacrifice their daughters for the good of the family. African Childrens Haven helps fight these illegal practices by supporting safe houses that shelters hundreds of such girls. We also provide educational scholarships that take the girls out of harm’s way and provides them with the opportunity to forge a better life. In most cases the girls cannot return home, but whenever possible efforts are made to reconcile the girls with their families.

Partners: Mission With A Vision | Vumilia Girls Home

Scholarships

 
Since 2009, we’ve provided scholarships for hundreds of deserving youngsters. For a small non-profit, funding can be a challenge, but it’s well worth it. Educating children, especially girls and young women, provides long-terms results that enhance family well-being and helps to grow communities. In Tanzania, for example, nine out of ten of our first female scholarship recipients – orphans all – are now in college or university studying medicine, nursing and accounting.

Partners:  Starkid School and Rescue Centre  | Carole Cole Scholarship Programme

Support for Teachers

 
Providing scholarships is one way to help children, but supporting their teachers is just as important. Each year, African Childrens Haven helps pay the salaries and health insurance for hard working teachers at small community-run schools located in slum neighborhoods. Each of these teachers works under difficult conditions for very small pay. We help by ensuring that they’re paid on time and by providing a bit of security for their families. It’s a great investment that’s helps keep great teachers in the classroom doing what they do best.

Partners:  Starkid School and Rescue Centre | Fanaka Memorial Secondary School | Judah Education Centre

Protecting Vulnerable Children

 
What happens after school lets out? Kids who live in slum neighborhoods or in remote rural locations rarely have access to after-school programs that keep their minds engaged and protect them from falling prey to drug and sex traffickers. To reduce the risk, we invest in after school programs that keep children active through sports and other recreational activities. We’re also working to build computer labs where kids can develop new skills and access learning resources that enhance their studies.

Partners: Mercy Center  | Fanaka Memorial Secondary School | Starkid School and Rescue Centre

Nutrition

 
Almost all of the kids that we support come from impoverished families where nutritious food is often in short supply. African Childrens Haven helps by financing school feeding programs that in some cases supply as many as three meals a day. Making sure that kids have enough to eat enhances their performance and helps ensure that they develop both physically as well as mentally.

Partners: Overseers Education Centre | Starkids School and Rescue Centre | Judah Education Centre

Preventing HIV/AIDS

 
We also invest in educational programs that work to keep children healthy and safe. In addition to providing access to health care and healthy school lunches, we also support sex education. The project, which emphasizes the ABCs … abstain, be faithful and use condoms … helps to educate tens of thousands of young people in rural areas that are most often left untouched by government public health programs.

Partner: The ABCs of Sex Education


Breaching the Digital Divide

 
Africans are going to school in greater numbers than ever before, including millions of young girls who for the first time can take advantage of a shift in tradition that once prohibited them from even attending school. Computer education is lacking in the curricula of most African schools, especially those located in slum areas where 70 percent of the Africa’s children now live.

Working with our partners at the Starkid School and Rescue Center and with our Carole Cole Scholarship Programme students in Tanzania, we’re working to teach computer literacy skills that will lead to jobs and help fuel Africa’s growing economies.

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