FAQs »

FAQs

Are all PH&C orphans without birth father and birth mother?
Perhaps as many as 35% of PH&C have a birth mother. Every major aid organization and the Bible all count fatherless and orphans as the same thing in terms of their desperate situations.
Does PH&C help widows care providers?
Inspired by the story of Ruth in the Bible, PH&C has from their inception had a heart for the widows who are providing care for PH&C orphans. In late 2006 a PH&C Widows Association was started, and a widows garden purchased. The Association will coordinate the ministry of the widows garden as well as the volunteer effort of widows who are essential to PH&C's ministry to orphans.
Does PH&C work with AIDS orphans?
Many PH&C children have been orphaned by AIDS. And though most of them are not themselves HIV positive, some of them are. HIV-positive children are provided good nutrition, vitamins and watched carefully so opportunistic diseases are caught and treated quickly.
How can I help finance the private school education of PH&C teens and young adults?
Sending children to private and Christian schools is a costly venture, but one that PH&C is glad to take on as our children pursue excellence in every aspect of their lives. Since a year's tuition at Yaloke Christian High School costs more than the $360 a sponsor gives for a year, some sponsors wish to give extra to cover the difference. These gifts can be sent to PH&C, Box 588, Winona Lake, IN 46590. Please write “scholarship” on the check.
How can I help the extended family of my orphan?
Sometimes sponsors ask how they can assist the extended family who is caring for their orphan. A gift of up to $30 can be given once a year to help the family. This money will purchase a 100 lb. sack of rice that will be delivered to the family.
How do orphan groups work?
Food is often distributed at the meetings, often children are given a small sack of food to take home so they can enjoy eating it with their extended families. Once the orphan Welcome Center is built some of the orphan group's ministry to children will move to the center.
How does PH&C administer care?
The hub of PH&C's ministry to orphans is through their orphan group located in their neighborhood. The ministry of an orphan group is headed up by a group mother who is assisted by several helpers. When PH&C's orphan Welcome Center opens in September 2007, much of the PH&C ministry, especially education and training, will take place there.
Orphan Care – Orphanage: What's the difference?
An orphanage is a building or institution where children typically eat, sleep and live. PH&C does not have an orphanage-based ministry. We provide care for orphans – orphan care, using whatever means at our disposal to ensure that children have all they need to become all that God has created them to be. Children sleep in homes, usually the homes of extended family.
The African method of Orphan Care
Through the centuries, uncles and uncles, grandparents and other family members have raised orphans from their extended family. But the extended family unit proved no match for the number of orphans that HIV/AIDs produces each year. In urban areas, soon after the arrival of HIV/AIDS, city streets started to fill with orphan children who have no extended family that can provide for them.
What are our core values?
- Excellence
- Transformed individuals transform society
- Indigenous strength
- Mobilization
What does a sponsorship provide?
Sponsorships provides the opportunity for children to become all that God has created them to be. These “opportunities” include food, clothing, education, medical care, discipleship, and regular contact with a loving adult who is watching out for each orphan.
What does the care made possible by your orphan sponsorship look like on the ground?
When it comes to the care of PH&C orphans, the most important elements in their growth and development are their orphan group and the group mother overseeing that orphan group's ministry to the orphans in that group. The group mother lives in the neighborhood of her orphans and so is very familiar with each of their extended family situations. It is her job to ensure that children Sponsorship puts in the hands of group leaders the goods needed to

Orphan groups meet in the neighborhoods of the children in those groups. They meet once a week for their group meetings, and also meet together at their local church for Sunday School with other children.
What sets PH&C above many other good programs?
There are many good orphan sponsorship programs out there. PH&C is unique in that:

- PH&C is the only orphan ministry that specializes in caring for Grace Brethren kids. About 65% of new orphan groups are orphans from Grace Brethren churches and families. In time, however, most if not all orphans end up attending the local GBC of their group mother.

- The pursuit of excellence in all things poises PH&C to make the greatest impact where it will make the greatest difference: in the hearts and lives of individuals. Transformed individuals transform church and society.

- When most agencies work hard to be able to send 80¢ of every dollar to the field, PH&C sends 98¢ of every $1.00 to Africa. This is made possible by a great volunteer staff, a streamlined process keeping administrative costs down, and GBIM's willingness to house our stateside ministry.
Where do we work?
Most PH&C groups are in the capitol city of Bangui, although the number of groups located outside of the group is growing and is expected to continue to grow as long as travel outside of Bangui is an option.
Who is on the PH&C team?
PH&C's team spans the globe. The team in Africa is comprised of the original committee of five women who started PH&C continue to direct it and oversee its growth. A large group of helpers, many of them women, are indispensable to the smooth working of the ministry.

The USA-based team's contribute is vital. On the USA team are five women who manage sponsorships, and hundreds of orphan sponsors who provide care for their orphans through prayer, giving and correspondence.
Who is Project Hope & Charité?
Project Hope & Charité is a ministry started in 2004 to help provide care and help to the growing number of orphans and widows in the Central African Republic.
Why are there so many orphans in Africa?
The combined effect of war, poverty and HIV/AIDS is behind the dramatic increase in orphans in the past 10-15 years.

- War and political instability causes mass movements of people, which contributes to the spread of AIDS.

- War, instability and AIDS deepen poverty, and poverty makes it impossible to purchase basic medicines to address two easily treated common killers: parasites and malaria.

- HIV/AIDS prevalence rate for adults 15-49 is around 15%, that means 3 in 20 adults are HIV positive. Most of these adults are dying at the prime of their lives, leaving behind sometimes large families for their widows and extended family to raise.
Why is education so important?
Quote from U.N. Food Program Document, translated from French by Karen Foster (GBIM, CAR)

“Education is particularly harshly affected by the HIV-AIDS pandemic. Education is a decisive weapon for slowing the propagation of HIV and it's time to be aware of that. Education for all is a foundational approach to reducing the spread of HIV-AIDS because it is now recognized that higher levels of education may translate into lower rates of new HIV infections.”