Our Hope Families program encourages families in our churches to care for the orphans in their community. Stop for the One supports them through assistance with food, school supplies and more. The program is done in collaboration with the local church encouraging community building and outreach.
The families involved in this program are extended family members, church members or neighbors. Church communities are encouraged to adopt these children into their families so they are able to grow up in their own community and in a family, instead of coming to live in a center. Families provide these children with a loving home, so they are no longer orphans! As these families volunteer out of love and generosity, they themselves likely struggle financially, so the program supports them by supplementing them with food and school fees.
We now have six villages in this program, with around 100 children adopted! Four times a year we visit each village in the northern Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique. During these visits we distribute food packs containing rice, beans, salt, oil, and ground corn, school supplies and gifts. We also fellowship with the families, share a meal, worship together, provide counseling, and encourage them.
Meet Nazarene!
Meet Nazarene! Nazarene is 14 years old. Both of her parents died of AIDS shortly after she was born. Her grandmother took her in and is raising her, but is elderly and unable to work. Nazarene is healthy and strong, but village life for her has been very challenging. Before entering the Iris Village Program she would sometimes go without food and remembers times when she was forced to beg. Nazarene wanted to continue her education but she did not have money for school fees.
She heard about Jesus at an Iris Outreach program in her village and accepted Jesus as her Savior! She joined the local church and was selected to become a part of one of the Iris Village Programs. She has been in the program for four years and is very happy! She now receives food and materials for school and is doing very well. Her desire is to be able to help take care of her grandmother and to one day become a teacher so she can help other children!
Nazarene's life and testimony is a story of hope!