ICF Supports 13 Orphanages
The AIDS epidemic in combination with wars, disease, and starvation in Africa has left millions of children without parents. In fact, UNICEF estimates that there are more than 52 million orphans in Africa. Some of these orphaned children live with grandparents or other family members but most are not so fortunate.
The International Children’s Fund (ICF) was created more than 40 years ago with the singular goal of helping desperately poor children. Our objectives have always been to help these children survive, by providing them with food and shelter, and then prosper, by providing them access to the education and training to help lift them out of poverty. One of our most important humanitarian programs is supporting the construction and operation of orphanages. Currently ICF supports 13 orphanages in Africa.
ICF provides a safe, happy, healthy environment for orphans to live and to gain the education and skills to become productive adults.
Pastor Paasewe has been working with ICF for most of our 40-year history and with our help founded the Living Word Missions. He oversees a mission, a school, a church, and an orphanage in Sanjanama, Liberia. In addition to the children in the orphanage, he currently has more than 250 children attending school and being fed daily. He recently asked us to support the construction of a new kitchen along with a new agriculture/animal husbandry program. He needed these facilities to support the growing number of children in the feeding programs.
We might imagine that a new commercial kitchen would consist of large stoves, ovens, and lots of stainless-steel counters. However, that is not the case in rural Liberia. The kitchen building was constructed of cement blocks, the stove was brick fired with wood, and the countertops were whatever was available. Functional and cost effective is the mandate at all our missions. Stretching each dollar of support to deliver the greatest possible impact to the desperately poor children that we serve.
Although the meals almost always are based on rice and beans, they are nutritious and are always appreciated and demonstrated by the smiles on the faces of the children who received them.
Regular giving helps us support our missions in their effort to make sustainable improvements in the lives of desperately poor children and their families. We call these donors Hope Ambassadors because they help ICF to provide hope to those who truly face life and death needs in Africa, India, and Pakistan. Please consider becoming a Hope Ambassador.
God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. Hebrews 6:10
Dr. David Bruenning
Founder/Int’l Director
See children fed, educated, and empowered.
Become a Hope Ambassador
It can be easy to skim past this verse, but the historical context of an “ambassador” brings a wealth of meaning. Such ambassadors or delegates, whether Jewish or Greco-Roman, came with the authority of the sender, in his place, to secure his interests. The reality is, God is making his appeal through us, and wants to secure His very own interests.