After the success of our stationery drive, we decided to work on a more ambitious project: to raise $3,000 in order to support an SOS Children's Village in Kenya. In our visits to Africa, we have learned there is a huge need for SOS Children's Villages to help the many children orphaned by AIDS. The United Nations estimates there are 11 million children orphaned by AIDS in sub-saharan Africa: roughly a third of the next generation.
Without the intervention of care givers like SOS Children's Village, the impact of the AIDS epidemic will pass to the next generation, further trapping these children - and their children - in poverty. This is why we believe it is important to take action now, so these children have a home and gain an education that allows them to build a future for themselves and their children.
When we visited SOS Children's Villages, we were impressed by how happy and hopeful the children were. They felt secure in their home and could look forward to a better future. We hope others will join us in helping make this happen. The following are some photos of our visit last summer to SOS Children's Villages.
We learn more about the issues of child poverty in Africa. Raheesa also researched the issue of child slavery, in which children from Ethiopia
are seized, snuck across borders and sold as cheap labour, particularly in goat processing plants. Below are some of the children we met.
