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Compassion Cottage Updates (Funded during 2007 Christmas Eve Offering)

The Need

• Every 14 seconds, a child is orphaned by AIDS- nearly all in Africa, including Tanzania.
• Children already struck with poverty are struggling with becoming heads of households at a very early age.
• These children become extremely vulnerable and subject to stigmatization and abuse due to their transient lifestyle.
• Tanzania has so far identified 2,478 children as being most vulnerable within the church partner projects. Of these, more than 1,200 are receiving support through Compassion’s program.

The Hope

• Compassion works through the local church to reach these most vulnerable children and orphans.
• Orphans in TZ are usually placed with family members or taken in by neighbors for care.
• As a last resort, the church selects the highest vulnerable children who have nowhere else to turn and forms cottages.
• Through the local church, Compassion finds willing adults (a married, Christian couple) to become caregivers to 6-8 orphans living in a cottage.
• It is important that these cottages blend with surrounding homes to reduce ridicule and stigmatization.

The Impact

• Orphans who would otherwise be left to their own resources are given shelter and a loving environment in which to grow.
• The caregivers, to their best ability, provide orphans the nurture, care and support they lost with their parents.
• Caregivers and older children are provided income generating opportunities and training to help make them self-sufficient and reduce need for future support.

Lessons Learned/Issues

• The cottage model is still new and we are learning how to best operate it for maximum impact.
• As we learn more, we are evaluating whether or not this is the best approach to take for the sake of the children.
• Though we want to reach as many children as possible, we are finding that the home environment works best with fewer (4-6) children than more.
• Even though Compassion and the church partner strive to make the cottage look and feel most like any other home in the community, the children are still singled out as belonging to the cottage. This is sometimes viewed as “special privilege”.

RiverTree’s Support

• RiverTree, through our 2007 Christmas Eve offering, is funding the opening of one new cottage and a year’s support of 4 more already-operating cottages (two cottages in Arusha, one in Morogoro and one in Dodoma) in Tanzania, Africa.
• These five cottages will benefit more than 30 of the most vulnerable children in TZ.
• Your support of the cottages will provide: food, clothing, bedding, household items, house rent and utilities of the homes. There will also be income generating skills training will also be offered to the caregivers.
• Additional support will be applied to Compassion’s AIDS Initiative.
• The new cottage will be located in the Singida region of TZ. Typical houses in this area are constructed of dirt floors, mud walls and thatch roofs. Common health problems in this area include malaria, typhoid and HIV/AIDS.
• It is expected that the new cottage will give a home to six children.

Compassion Cottage Update #1
The 2007 Christmas Eve Offering raised over $89k. This offering will fund the operating expenses for five (5) Compassion cottages in TZ, one of which will be a new implementation in 2008. Each of these cottages house 6-8 highly vulnerable children cared for by a Christian couple or mother. The cottages are linked to the local church and follow the Compassion Child Development Model providing for each child's mental, physical, social, and spiritual growth.

Additional funds (~$20k) beyond the Compassion cottage operating expenses will go toward the Compassion AIDS initiative. The AIDS initiative will provide HIV/AIDS medication, proper nutrition, education, and counseling to children and their families connected to Compassion through the local church.

Poverty robs children of hope, but through this offering you have restored hope and these children will grow to become who God intended.