A Village, Not An Orphanage!

Kijiji Volunteer community mobilizer Kevin Garo with Josephine and two of the nine children in her care (six orphaned, three biological). Josephine was caring for orphaned children long before she heard of Kijiji Cha Upendo. She is committed to their care and treats them as her own. She is fully capable of providing love. What she needs is our dollars to empower her to feed and educate her childreThe best of both worlds!

Village of Love, where orphaned children are cared for in loving families, combines the financial empowerment of orphan caregivers through micro-loans with monitoring the care and education of the children. The people who love the children are given the resources to care for them.

• A family is always there!

The families in Village of Love are not providing band aid solutions. They are in it for the long haul. They are there to support the orphaned children throughout their lives. Unlike an orphanage, they are there when the child leaves school and tries to find his or her way into the job market. They are there when the young person marries and has children. They are there through all the crises of life. Families provide belonging for a life time!

• Keep the children where they’re loved!

A sad fact is that many an African child placed in an orphanage actually has a family that loves them, but because of poverty the family gives up the child to be provided for through an orphanage.

In an institution, children may receive food and education. They may even be fortunate enough to have loving adults as paid staff or volunteers. However, the element of belonging in a family is always missing

What if children could receive the nutritious food and education that they need while being cared for in the families that love them and remain in the community that has been their home? Village of Love provides a model for this!

• No stigma: equal benefits!

Most orphan care projects focus on the wellbeing of individual orphans.  Village of Love focuses on the wellbeing of the whole family unit through empowering the orphan caregiver to become self sustaining. Integrated into a family in the community, the orphaned child is neither stigmatized as an “orphan,” nor set aside from the community as an economically privileged class!

• Monitored care

We can be sure that the children are receiving love and good care. The project is MONITORED, both by the Kenyan Government and by a social worker employed by the Village of Love.

The Village of Love journey BEGINS with love for children.

The care givers already love and care for orphaned children. They are committed to these children for the long haul. They do not need to be paid to love and care and for children.  What they need are the resources to feed and send them to school!

Will you set their feet on the next step of the journey?