The Orphan’s Hope Project

Imagine what is would be like if you were very poor.  Now imagine what it would be like as a child to be poor and to have no family to care for you.  This is the plight of many children, a heart breaking reality that is ever present in a country as impoverished as Nicaragua.  Children can lose their parents to death, disease and accident but it is also possible, and very common for children to be abandoned simply because their parents cannot afford to feed or care for them.

The Orphan’s Hope Project works with four disadvantaged orphanages in Nicaragua.  Two are in and near Managua, the capitol city.  Two others are new to the program  in 2012 and are located in the rural mountainous areas.  These orphanages, run by devoted and loving Nuns, care for children who would otherwise live on the streets.  But these orphanages are also poor and at times are not  able to provide even the most basic of needs, regular meals for the children.

The NC Mission of Hope created the Orphan’s Hope Project to respond to the need of these  facilities.   With donations from individual sponsors, we have been able to help provide regular and healthful foods such as meat, vegetables, cheese, eggs and milk; options otherwise not available.  We also assist with basic medical needs, such as vitamins and parasite medicine and educational materials.  Additionally, our goal is to encourage vocational training for all the children so that they may learn skills that will allow them to provide for themselves and their families when they are grown, effectively breaking the vicious cycle of poverty.

A sponsorship is $300 per year. Each sponsor receives a history and picture of their sponsored child.  We encourage communication as the children especially love to receive letters and pictures from their “Madrina” (Godmother) and “Padrino” (Godfather), their names for their sponsors.  It is such a comfort for them to know that someone else cares about what happens to them, how they live and how they will grow up.

OHP now helping HIV+ children

Recently, we have added 85 HIV+ children to the OHP program. These children are all infected with the HIV virus. Not only do these children suffer with this terrible illness but they also bear the stigma and alienation associated with HIV/AIDS in many parts of the world. In a cruel twist of fate, they endure the consequences of actions totally out of their control. Some of the children go to school; some are too sick or too poor to attend. Many of the children live with foster families as their own are unable to take care of them.

We are working with CARITAS – www.caritas.org – an organization with a presence in in Nicaragua that works directly with the children and their families. Through CARITAS, aid is provided in the form of key medicines especially for respiratory and symptomatic illness associated with HIV, education, clothing and basic food such as rice, beans and cooking oil. Your sponsorship also covers any urgent needs of the child, siblings or family. Unfortunately, other than a first name, age, and a school grade (if they attend), we do not have much information to share with sponsors for these children. We are exploring ways that we might be able to have a photo (a partial view only due to sensitivity and privacy concerns) and perhaps a letter from or about the child.

More help is needed….

We could not do what we have done without our sponsors; but we continue to look for additional sponsors to help us help the children.

While these sponsorships do not solve all of the problems and challenges that the children face now and in the future, your help WILL give them hope.  You can make a difference in a child’s life.

To sign up to sponsor a child, download our Orphan’s Home Project Sponsorship Form or for more information on how to become a sponsor or how you can help, email info@ncmissionofhope.org.