Why Help

AIDS, starvation, malnutrition and lack of education all contribute to the appalling conditions seen in Africa today. If nothing is done, the cycle will never be broken!

 

The AIDS Epidemic

The AIDS epidemic is having tremendous consequences for the children of Africa.

FACTS ON AIDS

According to reports published by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the following are the most recent facts on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Sahara Africa:

• 63% of the people in the world infected with HIV live in the sub-Sahara region of Africa
• 72% of all AIDS related deaths worldwide occur in here (2.1 million)
• In Zimbabwe 1 in 5 adults is infected with HIV, and the average life expectancy is 34 for women and 37 for men

*For the full report visit:
http://www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data/epi2006/

HOW THIS AFFECTS THE CHILDREN

With the number of parents infected and dying from HIV, there is an ever-growing population of children left behind.

• In South Africa alone, there are 2.1 million children orphaned due to AIDS
• 12 million children are orphans of AIDS on the African continent
• Last year 500,000 children died of AIDS

The results are homes with no parents and no care for millions of children.

 

CHILDREN RAISING CHILDREN

After the death of one or both their parents, often children are abandoned by extended family members who are unable to care for them. This leaves the oldest sibling to become the head of household.  Some households are being headed by children as young as 9!

 

Beyond AIDS

STARVATION AND MALNUTRITION

As if the HIV/AIDS epidemic weren’t enough, the addition of starvation and malnutrition are unbearable. Every day 30,000 children die of starvation or malnutrition. In West Africa 55% of all deaths in children is a result of malnutrition.

ACCESS TO EDUCATION

In sub-Saharan Africa over 42 million children are not enrolled in school. On average, only 19 percent of children are enrolled in secondary school and very few ever reach a basic skill level. The teachers of the region are poorly trained and constantly battle with large class sizes, limited resources and poor working conditions.

Higher education is an even more difficult task. Enrollment is the lowest in the world at a mere 5 percent. The lack of education makes it nearly difficult to end the cycles of AIDS and poverty in Africa.

Hope for the Future

By providing an education based in Christian philosophy and understandings, we will better prepare future generations of Africans to deal with the issues facing their nations. An educated nation, both scholastically and spiritually, is a nation capable of solving its problems.

Without education how will the cycle of death, poverty and hopelessness be broken?