Joylight Orphans Self Help Group-Gucha

There is no secret that AIDS is devastating the continent of Africa. Since the outbreak of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Kenya in the 80’s, nearly every family has been affected in some way. According to information provided by UNICEF, there are currently over 34 million orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1.6 million of them residing in Kenya.
Most of these children are now living with extended family members—aunts, uncles, or grandpmothers. But many of those families are struggling to provide food for their own large families and cannot divide the portions any smaller to include extra children. Others are held tightly in the grip of alcoholism and cannot provide a safe and loving home for their orphaned relatives.
Joylight Orphans Self Help Group, Kenya is situated in the rural villages surrounding Kenyenya area Gucha, Nyanza province of Kenya. The statistics and stories of orphans are no different here than in other parts of Kenya. Though there are other service organisations/groups in the area, there are not enough to meet the overwhelming need.
The leaders of Joylight Orphans Self Help Group saw that by providing care and support for orphans within family set-ups would fulfill the ministry’s call to “empower the poor and marginalised that they may know, serve, and worship God without hindrance” in yet another way. What could be more empowering than to raise a group of children in a loving family environment, provide education and health so that when they are grown, they will know the love of their Heavenly Father?
Mission Statement
To provide emotional healing, spiritual nurture, education, and basic needs to orphaned and destitute children in a family setting using Christian principles of honesty, integrity, and respect for man and God, and to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to be God-fearing, successful, and responsible people of Gucha ,Kenya and the world.
In Kenyenya, the organisation has established a school that is currently in Std 6 with a population of 150 kids who are taught by volunteer teachers.The poor community cannot meet the needs of the orphans whose number continues rising up day by day due to high HIV/AIDS prevalence in the project area.This calls for collaboration and partnerships localy and abroad to mobilize resources to continue supporting these vulnerable children.
Objectives:
1. To provide spiritual guidance and Biblical principles to develop hope in the orphaned children. To raise children in the fear and love of God and to bring to them “God’s fatherhood to the fatherless.”
2. To provide orphaned children with a family environment including parents and siblings, restoring the model of a Kenyan family.
3. To provide proper nutrition, adequate physical exercise, and medical care to develop healthy children.
4. To provide orphaned children with a formal education and social skills from pre-school to the highest level a child can attain. To provide vocational training towards self-dependence, preparing them for their lives as adults.
5. To provide counseling to meet the emotional needs of orphaned children who have been affected by negative past circumstances and experiences.

Joylight Orphans Philosophy:

We believe every child is a unique creation of God we accept the command of Jesus when He said, “suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not for such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14).
We believe every child is of promise and that each has a right to discover and develop his God-given potential. However, millions of children living in developing countries are too hungry and malnourished, too diseased and poverty stricken to develop as God intended. Since we also believe children are the world’s most valuable resource, we aim to help them reach their God-given potential.
We believe that the well-being of child, present and future is conditioned by his or her surroundings. Therefore, we can improve the surroundings; we can improve the well-being of the child. For example, the well-being of a child is affected by conditions in his or her family. The well-being of a family is affected by conditions in the church and community, the well-being of community is affected by the larger society or country and its government/Joylight believes that as we minister to the families, churches and communities we will enhance the development of children into productive Christian adults.
We believe to ministering to the whole person. Therefore, that “fullness of life” and fulfillment in life can be found only through a personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, we also believe that if we are to follow the teaching and example of Jesus Christ, we must share His compassion and concern to “feed the hungry”, clothe the naked, house the homeless and heal the sick. We are therefore committed to children’s physical, material, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

Child Qualification:

• Orphaned – both parents believed to be dead
• Abandoned – Children from homes where both parents have permanently left the family and forsaken the children
• Fatherless or Motherless - father or mother is dead or child is living with the widow’s parents or other relatives
• Handicapped – a child with a physical or mental limitation
• Destitute family – a child from a poor family where the father is living but is unable to support his family because of disability or inadequate income
• Educationally Deprived- a child from a poor family who cannot or will not have the advantage of going to school.

Project Activities:

The project carries on the following activities at Joylight Academy:
- Education supplies and fees
- Uniforms or clothing
- Supplies and Equipment for the Centre
- Teaching Aids/Reference books
- Health/Medical Treatment and Supplies,
-Personal Hygiene ,
- Food/Nutrition/Cooking Utensils ,
- Domestic Assistance ,
- Social Development,
-Spiritual Development.

What you can do

As you may know, our Joylight budget is based on prayer - every year we ask God what He wants us to spend on ministry areas and then we just add the "set costs" of supporting a child for a year. Here is where you can help:

1) Help raise awareness within your church.
2) Pray for God to rain down on us with the financial help that only He can provide.
3) Ask friends/family/co-workers etc. - whoever you feel led to - to support our children's project.
4) Sponsor a child fully for a year or more in terms of education support and basic needs@$200
5) Sponsor the basic needs of 1 child for a year @ $100
6) Sponsor a mosquito net for 20 kids @$60
7) Sponsor 5 children with basic beddings @ $50
8) Support the school with Bibles/Christian literature
8) Support a medical kit @ $300 per child/year