This is Belvia. She is pictured here with her grandmother who is raising her and her four siblings. Both of her parents are dead and her grandmother is a widow. The whole family will spend much of the summer working in their garden, which will provide produce to eat and sell at the market place. Belvia attended a Hand-in-Hand orphan school at the Sakpa Grace Brethren Church in the Central Africa Republic and this new school year will graduate to level 2 while one of her siblings will start in level 1.
Belvia’s story is highlighted here not because it is exceptional, but because it is the most common kind of story we hear from orphans attend Hand-in-Hand (HnH) orphan schools. The amazing truth is that orphans like Belvia and her four siblings rarely have other options for education. And as with Belvia’s care provider, her widow grandmother, most care providers of children in HnH schools have no other option for their orphans’ education. It’s amazing for those orphans in HnH schools, but sad for thousands of orphans who are not yet able to access a HnH orphan school in their community.
Hand-in-Hand orphan schools derive their name from the fact that they happen as a result of a partnership between two local churches: one in Africa and one in North America. Belvia’s church, the Sakpa Grace Brethren Church and every other church hosting a HnH orphan school, has a sister partner church in North America. Through this partnership these churches are able to open a school and feed and educate up to 50 orphans in their church and community. In the 2009-10 school year 35 HnH orphan schools blessed 1500 orphans! This school year, in 2010-11, Lord willing 42 schools will be opened blessing an estimated 1700 children.
PRAISE GOD that 35 of these schools have sister partner churches already for this new school year. PRAY that 7 more North American churches (or groups like ABFs or small groups) will become partners for the remaining 7 HnH schools in need of a partner. The cost for hosting a HnH school is $4000 for the full year – amazing when considering that this amount feeds and educates up to 50 children for a whole school year! Half partnerships are also possible.
Find out more about Hand-in-Hand orphan schools at the PHC website: www.ph-c.com