Our 2024 Challenge:
THE ORPHANAGE:
It’s no secret that running a nonprofit isn’t always easy, especially if you don’t know what challenges await you in the coming months/years.
In 2024, one of the biggest challenges we faced was our involvement with closing a children’s orphanage within the community where we work. We had been made aware of the children within the orphanage being violated over the years, with an extreme case that even led to the death of one of the girls.
We began working with the board (in England) to see how we could best assist them in closing the orphanage and caring for and reintegrating the children back into their villages. We employed a social worker to help us facilitate this initiative.
None of this was within our time or budget, yet we saw an urgent need to care for these thirty-two children. We are pleased to share with you that they are now all home in their villages and back in school.
THE LAND:
Once the orphanage was closed, we provided security and a caretaker for the land. We then began talking with the board in England and entered into negotiating a lease agreement in the hope that we could use the land and building to empower the local people by setting up a community center and running training workshops from it. After nearly ten months of goodwill investments into the property, the lease agreement fell apart as the UK board decided they wanted to sell the land.
Time, effort, and funds were poured into this initiative that did not materialize. Yet, there has been so much learning within this endeavor.
FUNDRAISING & GRANTS:
2024 was our most challenging year for fundraising; we had three events planned, but for different reasons, none of these events took place, which meant that the funds in our account from 2023 had to stretch over two years (versus one year).
However, we received some small grants along the way, which allowed us to sustain the programs that were already in place.
IN SUMMARY: