Circle of Hope Day Care
In June 2005, Mama Na Dada created a much-needed daycare program for
orphaned children who are desperately in need of nutrition, medical
attention, clothing, and adult supervision and guidance. With the increase
of deaths due to AIDS in the last several 
years, dozens of children
are left orphaned each year. Many are sent to live with neighbors or
relatives. Most live with elderly grandparents and even great grandparents
who are barely able to sustain themselves let alone small children.
The result is malnutrition and sickness, no access to education and
children being left to find food and clothing for themselves. Many
of these children are also HIV positive and in desperate need of ongoing
medical care. Without a regular diet, medical care will cause more
harm than help and many children will die from preventable illnesses
each year.
The Mama Na Dada’s Circle of Hope Daycare Center currently 
serves
20 orphaned children who have been identified as being in “extreme
need” of food, clothing and assistance. The Center operates Monday
through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. providing 2.5 hot, nutritionally-balanced
meals daily. Each child is provided with vitamins, regular medical
check-ups, daily bathing, playtime, naptime and additional food assistance
if needed.
It costs only $375 to operate the Daycare Center for one month, caring for 20 children. That calculates to approximately $.63 per day per child! To sponsor a child or to make a much-needed monthly donation to support the Daycare Center, please contact Global Partners for Development.
Meet Gidi
Gidi, 4 years, came to Mama Na Dada in June
2005 extremely ill and malnourished. The staff learned that Gidi was
one of four children who lived with their father. Their mother had
died of AIDS shortly after giving birth to her lastborn child, now
2 years old. Their father struggled to make enough money to feed his
family. His work collecting drinking water from Lake Victoria and delivering
it to local villagers kept him away from early morning till late evening.
Gidi’s older siblings, ages 7 and 8 took care of him and his
younger brother Tony in the morning before leaving for school. Their
morning meal consisted only of tea. The children then faced a day with
no food until their father arrived home from work, sometimes as late
as 8 p.m. A local neighbor watched after Gidi and his brother Tony,
but little food to feed her own family, she could spare little. Gidi
had become gravely ill and required immediately medical attention but
the father could not afford to pay for it. Mama Na Dada, with assistance
of volunteers, covered the cost of transporting and admitting Gidi
to the hospital where he required multiple blood transfusions and nutritional
supplements to save his life. Gidi also tested positive for HIV and
would now require regularly administered, life-saving medication. Thanks
to the Mama Na Dada Daycare Center, Gidi now has daily supervision,
regular meals, and his own healthcare worker to administer and monitor
his medication. Mama Na Dada has also provided Gidi’s family
with sleeping mattresses, food and mosquito nets. Gidi is now on his
way to living a happy, healthy life and his amazing spirit and personality
shine through everyday as he plays ball with the Center’s other
children.
To make a much needed donation, visit Global Partners for Development. In the donation area, you can specify how you would like your donation to be used.
