Children In Crisis Africa
With God and Many Strong Hands...
What we do
CiCA exists to alleviate something of the burden faced by struggling families on a day by day basis.
The circumstances faced by these families can have many roots, we have found the main one is the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis afflicting Zambia and most of Africa. However it may simply be an economic disaster that has befallen people, or sudden and unexpected pressure that has made life impossible for the family.
Our core project is child sponsorship. Currently over 70 Zambian children are sponsored by individuals, families and groups in the UK. Typically the level of support is around £20/month and this money is to help with the education costs for the designated child, whether it be school fees, uniforms or other expenses. In the five years we have been operating this scheme, we have had the pleasure of seeing a number of children completing their education - something which may not have been possible without sponsorship.
Some of the sponsored children live with their families, others are orphaned and are cared for by members of the extended family or simply by families who have been willing to take them in - we can't solve all the problems for these children but we can make providing for their care and education a little bit easier.
However CiCA is not just about sponsorship. We also operate a general fund, made up of Gift Aid refunds from the government, and other one off gifts given for the work. Over the years we have had spontaneous donations from individuals, proceeds from sponsored events, weekly subs from slimming clubs, money saved from people not sending Christmas cards and donations in lieu of flowers from the funerals of people sympathetic to our work.
With this money we have been able to purchase houses and provide settled accomodation for some families. We have been able to provide one off contributions for school fees, emergency food grants, small business grants, fertliliser and other assistance for small scale farmers.
From time to time we have made appeals for specific projects. We have been involved in a 'Food Bank' project involving a cooperative of ten farming families from one local church. We were able to provide seed and fertiliser for each family to farm one hectare of maize. The results were outstanding and for the first time many of these families were able to feed themsleves for a whole year. A portion of each harvest was given back to the 'Food Bank' and it was used to provide the seed and fertiliser for the following year and also to raise some money to assist widows and orphans within the church community.
Office Address:
PO Box 40943
Mufulira
Zambia