Amazing Grace Orphanage Center is a multi-sectoral Faith Based Organization (FBO) registered under the Trustees Act of the Republic of Malawi. The Faith Based Organization was founded in 2009 by a vibrant apostle who had ideas after visiting other organizations of similar nature in the southern, central and northern regions of this country, Malawi. Amazing Grace Orphanage Centre its offices are si
tuated in Blantyre. The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS for the chosen areas is above the national level. Like all other districts in Malawi, all chosen areas too have high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in children and women. The impact of such high prevalence rates translate into negative (inverse) health and social economic indices. Some notable ones are the loss in productive years, poor nutrition, high medical costs and high social costs in caring for the ever rising number of orphans. Scientific evidence has established a strong positive link between good nutrition and HIV/AIDS including the ARV utilization in the body. Practice too has established that provision of malnourishment has a positive effect on school enrollment and attendance. It is against this background that providing good nutritious food to the orphans of whom may have HIV/AIDS will improve their quality of life enrollment and retention in School. Many of the vulnerable groups have lost the bread winner, most of the times many of these are female headed households. Even the sick need to be supported materially for lasting impact of the home based care practice. Some of the HBC volunteers are dropouts because they cannot sustain supporting their clients from their meager resources. Even where community support structures exist strongly, the care givers need to be supported so that they undertake individual and collective business activities that can be used to support themselves and their clients. It becomes an empty rhetoric to encourage positive living when the clients and care givers are not economically empowered to afford basic necessities of life. The Faith Based Organization`s mission is to improve the quality of life of orphans, vulnerable children, elderly persons, disabled persons, widows and widowers arising from the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It programs in Orphan Care and Support, Home Based Care and the specific activities including vocational skills training in Carpentry, Welding, Electrical, Computer Skills and Tailoring. We also run nursery schools (Early Child Development activities). We also run motivational counseling sessions towards positive living for widows and widowers. All this is meant to contribute to the call for service and action against HIV/AIDS fight. The community population of the catchment areas which Blantyre, Mulanje, Mzuzu, and Chikhwawa Districts have is 5,500,000. This is not the exact figure and that the figure can go up or down. The figure has been estimated according to the census taken in 2008. In this figure we have more females and that one quarter is children. ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND AND CAPACITY. Amazing Grace Orphanage Center is a registered Non Governmental Organization (NGO) under the Trustees Incorporation Act (Cap. 5:03) of the Laws of Malawi. The organization was incorporated in 2009. Amazing Grace Orphanage Center carries programs that aim at achieving sustainable livelihoods through empowerment of women, especially widows, caring for orphans and other vulnerable children and other underprivileged people such as the elderly, disabled and sick persons. The organization undertakes programs in orphan care support by undertaking school feeding program. The organization is currently supporting 300 orphans and 100 widows in Mzuzu City, Blantyre City, Mulanje and Chikhwawa Districts. The organization is also carrying farming in Chikhwawa and Mangochi in order to raise food for the feeding program. In farming we cultivate maize, breed goats and pigs. Amazing Grace Orphanage Center has highly experienced personnel who form a project team. The team comprises of the project coordinator, project field officer, accountant and members who actively participate with various partners in carrying out day to day activities of the project. TARGET POPULATION: PROBLEM ANALYSIS.
• The impact of HIV and AIDS in the community that there is orphan hood of which most siblings are left with a single parent or no parents because of this some children prefer to go into the streets to beg which is not a healthy situation as they find toughest conditions in the streets.
• Primary and Secondary school dropout rate as these children lack basic necessities for them to continue with their education.
• Promiscuity of widows whose husbands have passed away in search of economic support for their families.
• An increase in the child headed and elderly headed households. As of now the HIV and AIDS prevalence rate has decreased due to interventions by Faith Based Organization (FBO), government departments which are being carried out in the areas mentioned. The risk behaviours that increase the HIV and AIDS vulnerability are as follows:
• Multiple s*x partners
• Poverty
• Cultural Beliefs (That allowing polygamy)
• Youths getting married without testing their HIV status. Coping mechanism of people living with HIV and AIDS and their families is that there are Health Centers, District Hospitals, and Referral Hospitals where people living with HIV and AIDS go to receive their ARVS and counseling support and also there are NAPHAM offices all over Malawi where PLHIV go to have support and receive counseling services for them to live longer. There are also Macro offices for HIV counseling and testing. DESCRIPTION OF IMPLEMENTATION AGENCY. Amazing Grace Orphanage Center is headed by an apostle who is the founder of the centre and Jesus Christ Baptist Church. It mainly targets the underprivileged members of the society who are mostly women, indigenous children, youths, elderly, disabled and the blind. It undertakes programs which supports orphans by the provision of and supporting the school feeding program at the centers. It also supports the elder orphans by paying school fees to them and provision of skills trainings in carpentry, welding, computer skills and tailoring. The organization has farms in the lower shire which sustain the activities of the organization. In total it has 300 orphans and 100 widows benefiting from this organization. The main purpose of the organization is to uplift the lives of the underprivileged by providing necessities. The organization is being assisted by lawyers and government officials who work on voluntary basis. The staff at the centre is being trained throughout so that they are not left behind with the changing world. It is the wish of the Amazing Grace Orphanage Center (AGOC) to provide quality care especially to the orphans and other vulnerable children. PROBLEMS ANALYSIS. Social problems arising from HIV and AIDS at family level are as follows: Orphan hood, female headed households, child headed households, child labour, high school dropouts, s*xual abuse, street children, no economic empowerment to support the orphans which leads to no development in these parts of the Cities and Districts. Amazing Grace Orphanage Center supports orphans and other vulnerable children. Orphans and Vulnerable Children from areas around the centers attend nursery schools being carried by the organization with the feeding program. ADDRESSING THE PROBLEMS.
• The organization has got farms in the lower shire which brings income to the organization for the sustainability of the activities of the organization.
• The organization trains elder orphans in tailoring, carpentry and welding in order to make them independent.
• The organization has well trained personnel who know how to account its undertakings.
• The organization also gets donations from well wishers for it to be sustainable in its undertakings. OTHER ORGANISATIONS TO COORDINATE WITH.
• District Assembly Aids Coordinating Committees.
• District Social Welfare Offices and District Community Development Offices.
• Ministry of Health through Referral and District Hospitals.
• Ministry of Irrigation and Agriculture.
• The Local Communities Committees. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROPOSAL. The capacity needs for the organization in relation to the proposed intervention are as follows:
• Training of caregivers.
• Training of widows in business management.
• Training in Farm management of volunteers.
• Training in Vocational Skills such as Computer Skills, Carpentry, Tailoring and Welding.
• School Feeding Program.
• School Fees funding.
• Start-up generating income. GENERAL OBJECTIVE. To mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on orphans and other vulnerable children, widows, widowers, elderly and disabled persons by improving the quality of their lives.
