(Zambia) KAI – Kids Alive International is celebrating 100 years of providing physical and spiritual care to vulnerable children around the world. With more than 2/3 of the country’s population living in abject poverty and one of the highest death rates in the world due to HIV/AIDS, their work in the country of Zambia focusing on family preservation and orphan care is essential.
(Image courtesy of Kids Alive International)
Mushiba Simatta, Sponsorship Coordinator for Kids Alive Zambia, says, “We start by taking care of children who are at risk. Taking care of them providing them with shelter, food, education, and also their spiritual needs.”
Many families struggle significantly to be able to provide care for their children, and Kids Alive Zambia supports them through family preservation programs in a number of remote communities. These programs include a Gospel-focused education.
If the children are orphaned, Kids Alive provides a safe and loving place for them to stay at one of two sites – either in the capital city of Lusaka or in Mongu in the western part of the country. Most children remain in Kids Alive residential care until they have graduated from school and are ready to enter adulthood. The children attend government school with friends, and receive additional tutoring and teaching from caregivers to ensure their success in the classroom. “It’s very difficult to get a child into a government school in Zambia due to overcrowding,” shares Simataa. “There are a number of wait lists for enrollment. But when we take our children – because they know us as Kids Alive and they know what we are doing in the community – they put us on the first list to have them enrolled.”
(Image courtesy of Kids Alive International)
As sponsorship coordinator, Simataa makes sure every aspect of a child’s story is prepared and shared with those who want to make a tangible difference. And the children she works with daily understand the impact on their lives. She shares, “They get to know that they are getting help. It makes them feel very important, and just have a positive outlook on life, feeling they have somebody to come over their way. “ Sponsorship provides each child with food, school needs, healthcare, and other basic needs.
Simataa has worked with Kids Alive for more than a decade, and she says it was their heart for the Gospel that first drew her – and what keeps her. “They’re doing the right thing according to the word of God – like helping the needy, and the poor, and especially the orphans.” She asks for prayer for the growth of the ministry. “Looking at the economy of Zambia, it’s going down every day. It is my prayer that Kids Alive rescues more and more children, and to do lots of projects that bring glory to God.”
Learn more about Kids Alive International ministry in Zambia and sponsor a child by visiting KidsAlive.org.
