We sold our first water filter!

Thanks to my lovely friends Gemma and Adam Flanigan we have received our first donation for a water filter. We have donated it to Mamma Noella's orphanage in Beni and the proceeds are going towards buying food for Rwese orphanage.

Thanks Gemma and Adam!

Here is a photo of some of the children at Mamma Noella's orphanage using it for the first time...

If you would like to buy a water filter or make a donation towards one then please visit www.congoorphanstrust.org

Thanks!

We finally have water filters ready for sale!!

Earlier this year we used funds from donations to Congo Orphans Trust to start a project making water filters. These filters are amazing. A simple concrete casing filled with layers of gravel and sand creates a natural biofilter which cleans the water as it passes through removing almost all water borne diseases including things like cholera (check out the following website for more information: www.friendlywater.net). The clean water is then stored in a plastic resevoir that children can use to fill their cups with clean, safe drinking water whenever they want a drink.

Our funds paid for the building of a water filter mold and also purchased all the equipment and supplies needed to make the filters. In total we were able to make 50 filters. These filters are now ready for sale and the amazing thing is that they aren't expensive to buy. $60 (around £40) will buy a filter that can provide clean, safe drinking water for a whole family or for a small orphanage.

Our plan now is to begin selling these filters to families in the Congo. For every £40 raised, half the funds will go to feeding orphans at Rwese orphanage while the other half goes to paying the staff costs and buying supplies to make more filters. This will ensure that the project will continue, local people have jobs, local families can drink clean water and local orphans will be given food.

Now for the best part...

If anyone in the UK would like to buy a water filter on behalf of their family or their work for £40 or just want to make a small donation to go towards the cost of a filter which they can share with lots of other people then Congo Orphans Trust will give that water filter to an orphanage that desperately needs one but can't afford one. The money for each filter will be split, as above, with half the funds going to feed orphans at Rwese orphanage.

What better gift can you give this Christmas than the gift of clean water and food to orphans in the Congo?

Donations for water filters can be made at www.congoorphanstrust.org.

Thank you!

Food glorious food for Rwese orphanage

Thanks to the amazing support and generous donations that Harry received for running the Bristol to Bath marathon, Congo Orphans Trust was able to donate $500 worth of food to Rwese orphanage.

Here are some photos of our team buying beans, rice, oil, cassava, soap and most importantly fresh vegetables in the local markets as well as photos of the children receiving the food and sitting down to a much needed dinner. 

Thanks again to everyone who was able to donate. Without your support it wouldn't be possible to keep Rwese orphanage open and to buy food to feed the orphans who call this place home.

Thank you!

Food for Rwese orphans

Today Congo Orphans Trust was able to deliver a months worth of food supplies to Rwese orphanage in the Congo thanks to an incredibly generous donation from Daniel Curry and his family. 

This orphanage lost their international funding earlier this year and it's only thanks to donations from people like Daniel that we are able to help feed the 80 orphans that live there. 

Included in todays food drop were; rice, beans, cassava, potatoes, soja, oil, firewood, milk powder and soap. 

Please see photos below of the children receiving the food bags and then gathered around the tables for a dinner of potatoes and beans.

If you would like to help us send food to them next month please make a donation at www.congoorphanstrust.org

Thank you.

Congo Orphans Trust receives it's first corporate donation!!

What an AMAZING day!

Today Congo Orphans Trust received it's first corporate donation of £500 from Daniel Curry at www.propulsionrecruitment.com. Daniel wanted to help orphans in the Congo and teach his 2 daughters about children who were less fortunate than themselves. His donation will be going to Rwese Orphanage which is home to 80 orphans and which lost it's international funding recently. We plan to buy food and pay for medical care & school fees for the children. 

Thank you Daniel and family!! Photos to follow soon...

Rwese orphanage loses its international funding...

I recently received some incredibly sad and worrying news. I have been told by my colleagues in the Congo that Rwese orphanage has lost its international funding. This is devastating news as the orphanage is currently home to 80 orphans between the ages of 1 and 16 and without funding the orphanage will close and these children will have nowhere to go.

Many of you will remember the large orphanage tucked away in the hills between Butembo and Goma which I visited last year.

I arrived with box loads of clothes, shoes and toys for them all along with medical and school supplies.

For the last 25 years, REACH Italia, an Italian charity, has been covering the costs of food, clothing, medical care and staffing at the orphanage. Unfortunately a lack of donations has meant that the charity organisation can no longer afford the $3,000 (£2,000) per month to support these orphans.

Granted, £2,000 per month does sound like a lot of money but when you work it out, it means that each child has less than £1 per day to feed them, clothe them and treat them when they are sick. This doesn't cover the costs of school fees and school supplies to get them an education.

Luckily, some of these orphans have sponsors who are covering their school fees and while I was there last year, 28 orphans had their school fees paid for by friends of mine who had made a donation to the Mission Congo fund. 

I currently have a few people who have set up a monthly donation to continue to cover the costs of school fees for these children and if anyone else would like to do the same it's quick an easy to set up - just visit www.congoorphanstrust.org and go to our 'donate' page.

In the meantime our biggest concern is to try to help this orphanage to get new funding so it can stay open and continue to care for the 80 children who call this place home. I am in contact with various international NGOs but funding takes time and unfortunately these children don't have much time to spare. My fantastic friend and fellow advocate for Congolese orphans has managed to raise $3,000 to cover the costs of running the orphanage for the next month through her charity organisation in the states called Congo Children's fund but nobody knows how we will be able to buy food for these orphans next month.

What we need are big companies with deep pockets who would like to make a donation to help us start projects making things like water filters, soap, rearing chickens and growing crops so that this orphanage can help support itself. If anyone has any ideas on who we can contact or would like to help fundraise by organising an event in the UK and getting friends and colleagues involved then I'd love to hear from you. I know it's a big ask but I just can't bear to think that these little ones that were so happy when I arrived last year with gifts of clothes and toys might soon be abandoned and have to take care of themselves when they are still so young.

Thanks,

Hannah