Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…. James 1:27 (NIV)

Adopt-a-Village Project

In early-2007 Pastor Chris challenged our church family to “do something” about the crisis in Africa and AIDS pandemic.  We researched organizations that are active in providing for the poor and working to fight the HIV/AIDS situation.  In April 2007, a small team traveled to Malawi to learn about World Vision’s operations on the ground in Africa. 

Based on the stats alone, Malawi is among the poorest countries in the world. The average household income is $159, 18% suffer from HIV/AIDS and nearly 1 million are orphans.  Yet in this country of extreme poverty, we experienced strong hope and deep faith.  We are partnering with World Vision to help build transformational communities and assist people toward self-sufficiency in this area of the world.

We call this project Adopt-a-Village and our partnering villages are in the area of Senzani Malawi.   Our initial goal was to sponsor 100 children;  as of 2009 we have sponsored 375 children.  The support we contribute provides the community clean drinking water, food security, education, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, church support and economic development. 

In conjunction with World AIDS Day on December 1, 2007 and 2008, we assembled 250 Caregiver Kits, which World Vision distributed to caregivers of AIDS sufferers.   These kits provided the basic necessities such as aspirin, protective gloves, cotton balls, and washcloths for those volunteer warriors fighting AIDS in Africa. 

Teams from Orchard Grove have visited Senzani Malawi in the Spring of 2008 and 2009 to further our partnership with our villages in Malawi. 

If you have any questions or would like to join in our sponsorship efforts, please contact Laura McKelvey at Adopt_a_village@comcast.net.

Links:

www.worldvision.org