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

Food for Mamma Josephine's orphans and milk for the babies!

My favourite part of running the 'Congo Orphans Trust' project is when I receive an email from one of my colleagues in the Congo who has taken all of your generous donations and done something wonderful with it like buy food for orphans or milk for hungry babies.

Check out these photos of food being delivered to Mamma Josephine's orphans, the receipts which I get sent so I can keep track of spending and a wonderful homemade thank you sign.

The children have been given rice, beans, potatoes, sugar, cassava, soja, oil, and firewood to cook on.

One of the twins is still in hospital but this little one can enjoy a nice bottle of formula.

Milk time!

Receipts showing what they spent the $300 on.

Although it says THANK YOU HANNAH, it should really say THANK YOU to ALL OF YOU!!

We still have $1,200 remaining which is going to be used to fund a soap making project at the orphanage that the older children can get involved in so they can begin to support themselves by making and selling soap in the local town and using the profits to buy food for the orphans. More information and photos of that project to follow.

Hannah x

Over £1,000 raised to help children at Mamma Josephine's orphanage

Donations have been flooding in all week following the news that Mamma Josephine had suddenly passed away leaving 35 orphans without anyone to take care of them or buy them food. It has been such a sad week but I'm so pleased to announce that thanks to all your generous donations we have managed to raise just over £1,000 to buy food for the children and to fund a soap making project that the older children at the orphanage can get involved in, with supervision from Philippe and Maajabu who work for an NGO in Butembo and Jean Claude who is a local chemist.

Projects like this are of great worth in the Congo as it is important for orphanages to find ways to support themselves rather than replying exclusively on foreign donations to buy food for the children. Also, many of these children will struggle to get jobs once they are old enough to leave the orphanage so work experience from being involved in projects like this will be a real advantage for them.

Once the project is up and running I'll post some photos but in the meantime I'm going to send them some money to buy food for the little ones and milk for the babies just while they get through this very difficult time.

Thanks again for all your support and incredibly generous donations. None of this would be possible without your help!

Hannah x

Mamma Josephine sadly passes away...

Almost a year ago today while I was visiting orphanages in the Congo I was fortunate enough to meet an incredibly brave, strong woman called Mamma Josephine who, despite having almost no money, had taken 50 orphans into her home to look after them and feed them and send them to school.

Such was her devotion to the needs of orphans that recently, upon hearing that 2 babies (4 month old twins) had been found in a field next to the body of their mother who had been killed by rebels, Mamma Josephine took these babies into her home and promised to care for them along with all her other orphans until they were old enough to take care of themselves.

Sadly, Mamma Jospehine passed away suddenly last week and now these 50 children, including the 2 babies, are orphans once more and have no one to take care of them. We are raising money to buy food for them while they try to find someone else to take care of them or find new homes for the babies and the youngest children. We will also help to cover costs of medicine for those that are sick.

Here is a photo of Mamma Josephine with some of her children last year. The men in the photos are with local NGOs who help us to support not just this orphanage but many others across the Congo.

Here is a photo of myself, Mamma Noella, Roda and Mamma Josephine at a clinic for disabled clinic in Butembo last year. Mamma Josephine was a quiet lady who rarely smiled but I remember her face when we delivered food, school supplies and mattresses to her and her children and she lit up like the sun!

Goodbye Mamma Josephine. You will be missed. May you rest in peace safe in the knowledge that we are watching over your children.

xxx

Food for Mamma Noella's orphans - best baby shower gift ever?!

For the last few weeks Mamma Noella and baby Roda have been very sick so they haven't been living at the orphanage and the children haven't had anyone to look after them or bring them food. We decided to ask people to donate money instead of gifts for my sister's baby shower and thanks to some of her generous friends, we were able to buy food to feed some hungry tummies at Mamma Noella's orphanage in Beni. Mamma Noella and Roda are still sick but getting better which is great news!

Thanks everyone!