A Mother & Child Community Development Initiative Chilenje, Zambia

Become A Friend - supporting vulnerable families

At risk families urgently need basic support in order to survive. CWCG gives crises intervention support to vulnerable families through the Become A Friend donation option.

Participating families do not receive cash, but would typically receive support with problems like:

• supplementary food
• water/electricity connection
• hygiene tuition
• hands-on mentoring on HIV, infant nutrition
• practical help with domestic chores

A large percentage of families have lost family members to the ravages of HIV/Aids. Short term support during the period in which families struggle to adjust to these losses is vital. A key goal of the Become A Friend fund is to ensure that families remain together and find new ways to function as a family.

How vulnerable families are identified:

• parent or parents deceased leaving grandparents or siblings to be head of household
• unstable supply of food, water and electricity
• family unable to keep children in school
• income generating ability of the family very low or non-existent

The CWCG team mentors and monitors families, desperate mothers and their children, in crisis situations. Many sad and shocking discoveries of families living far below the poverty line were made during the course of routine local home visits by the CWCG women, who have become leaders within the group and respected mentors within their own communities. This means that food security for the families is an issue for their basic day-to-day survival. In addition these families have little or no ability to achieve or access basic health and hygiene conditions.

The primary focus of Family Sponsorship is to keep the family unit together. It is well recognised at an international level that a total well-being of a child is better secured within a family unit. Many children in Zambia have lost their natural parents to the AIDS epidemic and are living with extended family. Most of these extended families offer children loving homes but find their meagre resources stretched to breaking point by taking in these children. It is in these type of circumstances that Family Sponsorship can make all the difference.

Poverty isolates and demeans people and families

€120 (£105/$160) per year will break this cycle of shame, loneliness, and disease.

CWCG Friends will receive twice yearly reports on how their donation has been linked with others to provide this crisis intervention.

It's amazing how much can be achieved with just a small amount of money from people like you - help support and extend the activities of the Chilenje Women and Child Group (CWCG) and enable new groups of women in rural areas to be identified and receive skills training for income generating skills.

We need your help to help vulnerable Zambian families survive

100% of your donation goes directly to those who need it.

Case Example - the Miti Family

The Miti family is made up of parents and five children, four boys and one girl. Mr Miti is retired from the army and eldery so his earning capacity was very much reduced. His young wife had suffered a stroke and the children were unable to attend sachool. Members of the CWCG group, who lived in the neighbourhood, brought the struggles of this family to light and made it possible for them to find alternative dwelling for them. They were then able to rent their house, which provided an income to secure food and education for the children.