Hope For The Nations

Learn more about this Program Program: CHILDREN AFFECTED BY CONFLICT & WAR

Wars have changed: today wars are primarily civil wars and civilians are targets rather than collateral damage. Today many warring groups specifically target women and children in order to spread fear through a population. This has led to a situation in which armed conflict disproportionately affects children.

Children who live in conflict zones or who have been through a war have suffered in many ways and need many different forms of assistance to regain a semblance of normalcy. Although children are extremely resilient, conflict makes children more vulnerable to the effects of their broken environment:

many have lost their family and friends;
many have lost their homes;
their community - and sense of community - was damaged;
Access to health care and education have been disrupted;
many have experienced physical trauma due to injury, illness, lack of nutrition or abuse;
Many have experienced emotional trauma from witnessing violence, losing loved ones, or being abused.

Hope for the Nations is particularly concerned about these children and seeks to address their needs using many different approaches. Explore the different projects that HFTN supports and consider how you can get involved.

View CHILDREN AFFECTED BY CONFLICT & WAR

Project
LIBERIA - GANTA : Foster Home - Mercy Program

Liberia was in the process of recovering from a devastating 8 year civil war (1990-1997) in which approximately 13% of the pre-war population was killed (300,000 killed out of 2.5 million). In 2003 Ganta was again in the middle of civil war.

The social, political and economic fabric of the Ganta area had been ripped apart by the war but is now gradually being rewoven. Tragically, the war left its victims, mostly widows and orphans, in a place of desperate poverty, hopelessness and disarray. Multitudes of children were left abandoned or orphaned.

The work of HFTN, Liberia began in late 1997. 85 war-affected children have been placed into 47 foster homes. These once 'at risk' children now have a stable home environment and each child has free tuition in the Hope Academy.

Our partner organization, Be A Hero, has the mandate to create heroes out of every day, ordinary people by providing them with opportunities to change the world, one child at a time. [Click here to learn more about our partner]

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Ken's Update from Ganta

Posted by HFTN on Feb 11, 2010 1:51 PM

Ken's Update from Ganta

Posted by HFTN on Feb 11, 2010 1:51 PM

The work in Liberia continues to grow and many children's lives are continually being changed for the better. This past year we have had over 60 severely malnourished children come to our center to stay with us until they are healthy. Some of these children are orphaned and some are HIV positive. In both cases we are able to find a Hope home to help raise them. We now have 163 children that we care for and help raise in our Hope foster homes. This includes food, education, clothing and healthcare. I am amazed that as more children are brought to us we continue to have the funding and space to care for them. Thank you for your help! There are children alive today that would have died otherwise.

One challenge is that a local hospital that has been run by an NGO has been handed over to the government. This hospital had been a tremendous asset in offering medical care for some of the malnourished children. This change in management has placed a significant burden on our staff as more children are being brought directly to us. Please pray that we have the ability to help every child.

We continue to offer feeding programs in many villages and training for the parents. Hundreds of children benefit from this. We continue to strive to eliminate malnourishment in Nimba County.

Hope Academy has 680 students this year and continues to improve on its education. Liberia has now been 6 years without war and we are hoping to see a whole generation grow up educated and motivated by a good and positive future.

Please continue to pray for all our Liberian staff. Ruth, Rachel, Yar, MaryAnn, Lakaryee, Daniel and Angeline all are amazing people who have a huge heart for children.

Please pray for our Hope children growing into young adults and moving on in life. We desire the best for them as they show the leadership that we have always hoped for.
Thank you again for your care and help, Ken

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Ken McAllister (on August 26, 2010) wrote:

Paulina Bleah just returned from Liberia. She and her team did some amazing work with many kids in Ganta. They had over 250 kids each day at their VBS for fun, games and good lessons. When people like Paulina go to poor countries to give the impact is huge. When they go back a second time they implant themselves in a child's memory forever