World Forgotten Children Foundation

African Community Project has been working with communities in Zambia for the past 14 years. Our mission is to create sustainable community forests and to practise "social forestry". Part of social forestry is the well-being of the entire community. We have been working with Chibolya Community School since its creation, doing environmental education and helping the school and community become sustainable. A recent visit to the school made us aware of this deplorable situation.

The project was to provide the 8 handicapped children living at the school with beds, mattresses, blankets, pillows and linens, and to also provide the house mother who lived and looked after the children with the same. The beds were made by local craftsmen and the supplies where bought from local merchants. All administration costs and time to execute this project where voluntarily provided by staff from both involved organizations.

Recently, World Forgotten Children's Foundation has extended its outreach into Ukraine to partner with Raising Hope, Inc., to provide help for children in this war-torn nation who have very special physical and intellectual needs. In this small way, WFCF is offering hope and a better future to those living under a dark cloud of violence, economic deprivation, and severe limitation.

WFCF donated US $8,000 for the purpose of purchasing ten (10) wheelchairs, at a cost of US $700.00 each, and two (2) treadmills, at a cost of US $500.00 each, for the benefit of orphans living with severe physical disabilities. Below, please find profile of some of the children at this facility benefiting from WFCF contributions.

WFCF has recently funded Diema's Dream Foundation in the Russian Federation for US$12,825.00 in support of the Project Believe - verticalization orthopedic and physical therapy, life skills and social adaptation for orphans living with severe mental and physical disabilities.

Project Believe is about giving orphans who have multiple and profound disabilities, the courage to believe they can see their world while standing on their two feet. Elat'ma orphanage is located in Ryazan region; 200km South East of Moscow, Russia. The orphanage currently accommodates 96 children ages 2-10 years with severe physical and mental disability. The project is supervised by Diema's Dream foundation located in Moscow, Russia and Arnold, MD. Diema's Dream Foundation was established in 1998 to provide financial, medical, and educational support for both physically and mentally disabled children in Russia. The larger goal is to support changes in society and legislation in order to create social and medical support programs, which would allow parents to raise their children at home rather than living in institutions. For over 16 years, Diema's Dream Foundation has been providing support and care for around 15,000 orphans throughout Russia.

Pastor Lee Jong-rak is a founder of the Baby Box Church. He is a simple man with a huge purpose; Pastor Lee saw a devastating problem. He thought of a way he could change it, and he became a prophetic voice to his society. His story is a story of faith; a story of hope; and a story of love. His Baby Box is the first and only box in Korea that is for collecting abandoned babies who are physically or mentally handicapped or are just unwanted by their mothers.

Hundreds of unwanted babies are abandoned on the side of the street in South Korea every year. Pastor Lee knew he needed to set up a way to save the lives of these precious babies. He built a drop box on the side of his home with a humble sign reading, "Place to leave babies.”

The inside of the box contains a thick towel covering the bottom, and lights and heating to keep the baby comfortable. A bell rings when someone puts a baby in the box, then Pastor Lee, his wife, or staff associates come to immediately move the baby inside. His aim was to provide a life-giving alternative for desperate mothers in his city of Seoul. He even admits that he didn’t really expect that babies would come in– He was mistaken. The babies came. In the middle of the night, in the middle of the day, some with notes, some without a word, and only a very few mothers actually spoke to him face-to-face.

The church’s battered Van had so many problems and it was not safe to transport the children. It was their only mean of transportation when the children need to go out for the activities or the treatments at the hospital. WFCF proudly sponsored the Baby Box Church to replace the 15-passenger van. The new van is now at the service of the Baby Box Church and the children that live there.

WFCF Funds CESEH in Abidjan, Africa. WFCF is pleased to announce the funding of Equipment and Medical supplies in the amount of $6,564.00 USD for the Center of Mobility and Stimulation of Children with Disabilities (CESEH) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The project is managed and coordinated by the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) in Brussels, Belgium. BICE’s mission is to be the integral development of the children in Africa by promoting children’s dignity and enforce their rights that are still often violated. The local partner is the NGO organization: Dignity and Rights for Children in Ivory Coast (DDE-CI). DDE-CI aims to mobilize civil society and influence in social policies in the best interest of the children in Ivory Coast. It is a national organization serving all children, especially the most vulnerable ones. It defends the interests and dignity of the child with an emphasis on education, family environment, a sense of responsibility, self-confidence, spiritual development and the rights of the child. The objective of the project is to properly equip the CESEH facility with mobility devices and to provide specific drugs in order to improve the quality of life of children living with disabilities. The expected result is to improve the well-being of 110 children living with disabilities hosted in the center.

World Forgotten Children Foundation (WFCF), in cooperation with the Dokimoi Ergatai program of Messiah College, provided the Handicapes en Avant (a French charity group in West Africa) with $7,800 in equipment. These funds included $1,500 for the purchase of ten hand-powered tricycles. These tricycles are designed to enable physically disadvantaged children to have additional mobility. In addition, $250 was awarded to the Dokimoi Ergatai program for the purchase and delivery of visual assist items for computers in order to support children with visual disability in West Africa.

$1,000 was funded in support of the development of the first electric tricycle for the handicapped children of the Handicapes Avant facility in Burkina Faso.

Finally, the amount of $5,300 was provided for the purpose of purchasing (i) drawing boards for making relief drawings, (ii) Braille writing tablets, and (iii) and other educational materials, all to be acquired from “Association Valentin Hauy in France to be used at the Handicapes en Avant School in Burkina Faso in support of blind orphaned children at this orphanage facility.

WFCF helped two handicapped orphanages in Ukraine, by giving the amount of US $1,000 toward the purchase of nutritional and medicinal products. The money went to the Zgurovka Orphanage and Bovarka Orphanage, and were dispensed through the Ukraine Peace Fund, which monitors the appropriate use of funds in the country. Many thanks to Rev. Michael Gingrich for all his efforts in assisting WFCF to fund these orphanages.

WFCF funded the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) at the University Baylor Medical Center in Texas for the amount of $1,000. The funding was in support of two facilities (Lesotho Care and Treatment Center & Swaziland Care and Treatment Center, both in West Africa) for the care and medical treatment of orphaned children with AIDS.

WFCF has funded the amount of US $2,000, in cooperation with the Cancer Recovery Foundation International ("CRFI”) matching fund of additional US $2,000, to the Ukraine Peace Foundation for the purpose of providing chemotherapy, radiation treatments and surgical procedures for disables and orphaned children. Many thanks to Rev. Michael Gingrich, WFCF Advisory Board Member, and Director of Program Services of Cancer Recovery Foundation of America for making this humanistic cooperation possible.

Recently, the World Forgotten Children’s Foundation (WFCF) assisted the Mercy & Sharing Foundation (MSF), a Colorado based non-profit group that operates several orphanages for handicapped children in Haiti, by providing $2,860 for the purchase of eight (8) wheel chairs for use by orphaned children in Haiti.

Recently the Advisory Board of the World Forgotten Children's Foundation (WFCF) has approved funding in the amount of US $6,000 USD to Diema's Dream Foundation ("DDF") for the purpose of purchasing ten (10) wheelchairs for children with disabilities at their orphaned disabled children. Diema's Dream was established in 1998 to provide financial, medical, and educational support for both physically and mentally disabled children in Russia.