Update:
Umzimvubu Area Development Project

WHY UMZIMVUBU?
In 2008 World Vision brought their traveling exhibit, "World Vision Experience: AIDS," to Hope and we were educated on the plight of orphaned children in Africa. With that knowledge comes responsibility - then and now.

Part of the Experience included Hope's adoption of the Umzimvubu Area Development Project (ADP) in South Africa through World Vision. The area has a population of 194,000 people; of these 40,000 are supported by World Vision. Approximately 90% of the population lives below the poverty line. Only 13% of the residents are employed. The area could be agriculturally productive, but its remoteness inhibits farmers from accessing markets for their produce. Most able-bodied men take migrant worker jobs at gold mines far from their homes and abandon their families in the Umzimvubu area.

PARTNERING WITH WORLD VISION
Hope committed to financially support the Umzimvubu ADP through donations to World Vision. These donations are being used to make the following major interventions:

Agriculture: To increase food availability, the ADP distributed plowing equipment for individual and collective farming. This is in addition to the training of poultry farmers in how to manage and rear poultry. The ADP distributed sheep to orphans and individuals which has allowed them to make money by selling wool. Twenty-five community gardens and many individual gardens have ensured that children are well nourished by giving access to this food for their families. Excess is sold and income is used to buy household goods or to send children to school.

Education: The ADP area is characterized with high primary school drop out rates and teenage pregnancy. Most of the classrooms are built up by mud, have broken window panes, experience leaking, have no proper doors and some children have to use stones as chairs. The ADP funds have improved the learning environments through the purchase of school furniture, improvements in sanitation facilities and access to clean water and implementing life skills value based workshop for students so they can complete primary school and make informed decisions about their future.

HIV & AIDS: The practice of migrant labor has escalated the HIV prevalence rate, which in turn is causing the number of orphans and vulnerable children in the area to skyrocket. However, survey findings have identified that HIV and AIDS issues are not clearly communicated to the ADP communities. This has led people within the community to have a misconception of the pandemic and avoid doing the basic hygiene procedures to stay healthy. The ADP conducts HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns that will minimize the pandemic prevalence and teenage pregnancy rates. These campaigns focus on prevention, care, support and advocacy. To decrease the prevalence rate among children, the ADP has 250 Youth Facilitators (ages 8-15 years old) at schools conducting these campaigns.

HopeChild Sponsorship: This is a World Vision program that links poor children in developing countries with individual donors in the United States and other developed nations. The sponsored child benefits through direct assistance, as well as improved living conditions in his/her community. Through regular reports and letters, the sponsor can see how his or her gift -- when combined with those of other generous sponsors -- is making a difference in the child's life and community. The Umzimvubu ADP has 6,100 registered children in the HopeChild Sponsorship program.

HOW CAN YOU SPONSOR A CHILD?
Our mission as a church is to "reach out to the world around us and share the everlasting love of Jesus Christ!" Our mission as followers of Christ is to be the face of Jesus to those who are sick, hungry, poor, or facing other desperate circumstances. Serving others is one of the greatest blessings God offers us. Hope believes this is an opportunity to support, educate and improve lives of children and the communities they live in... changing lives in a very direct way.

There are more than 50 children in Umzimvubu who are still seeking sponsors.

If you are currently sponsoring a child through World Vision's HopeChild Sponsorship program, please click here for some important information.

For a more detailed update on the Umzimvubu ADP, click here.