The daily struggle to feed children, clothe them, pay for their schooling and necessary medical treatment can be overwhelming for those affected by AIDS. When you live in a leaking, overcrowded mud hut as well, hopelessness can lead to giving up. We met families on the edge of despair. What a difference a simple, well constructed home can make, a life or death difference for some families in Uganda.

OKM is excited to announce a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to build 100 new homes for needy families beginning in 2008. Each family must own a small amount of land and they will contribute to the construction by supplying labour and some materials. They will also repay a small monthly amount over the next five years. These repayments will go into a fund to help more orphans and widows at least 8 widows we work with will not qualify for a home, because they do not own any land. They also struggle to see how they can make enough bricks. We would like to help them by raising money for plots of land to build a house and have a vegetable garden. The estimate is £1,000 per family for the land. Some of these women are HIV positive and adequate accommodation, nutrition and Anti-Retroviral (AVR’s) can help them live and care for their children.

If you would like to help with fundraising by holding an OKM Supper Party with friends or in some other way, please let us know. Our first priority is to sustain our commitment to enable the nearly 150 children in OKM families to be educated and cared for.

Cards are available to be picked up at the Oval from our office and the YWAM Bookstore, or delivered by post. Please email us on orphans@oval.com to place your order.
Don’t be late in buying a pack of Easter cards for your family and friends - they are selling quickly!

Costs

£2.50 per pack

Postage:

One pack: £2.50 + 58p postage

Two packs: £5.00 + 80p postage

Please make cheques out to ‘Orphans Know More’

So what are the other challenges? We want to distribute improved seed for growing maize, beans, ground-nuts, and soya.  The cost is approximately £7 to supply a family with adequate seed.  An ongoing challenge is school uniforms which cost about £6 for a primary child, or £12 for a student in secondary school.  These are some of the small scale challenges, but we also have an exciting and ambitious project to extend and improve housing for our families this year. To donate online click here. More soon!
 

Orphans Know More are excited to announce our new fundraising project, Pounds for Pairs. Barefoot children are the norm in Uganda, but without pairs of shoes and uniforms they cannot attend school. Our friends have said that this is one of the constant needs as their children keep growing! Join us in raising Pounds for Pairs!!

Can you help our friends buy 300 pairs of shoes? In Uganda £4 buys one shoe, £8 for a pair. We have £££££’s for Pairs!! Fundraiser packs available. Contact us to request one (or more!). In your pack you will find creative ideas to raise money along with cards to hand out, the OKM DVD and more! Think what a difference your donations will make, and put yourself in their shoes!

Donations to Pounds for Pairs can be made here. Or send a cheque to ‘Orphans Know More’, Highfield Oval, Harpenden, AL5 4BX.

Three lads, three peaks, one dad and a vicar! No, not the title for a funny movie but a few of the elements of a challenging fund-raiser. The aim was to walk the three peaks in Yorkshire in 12 hours starting out at first light one Saturday morning in July. Things went fairly well on Whernside but as the team approached the second peak of Ingelborough the heavens opened and the wind came in horizontally!! The Pen Y Gent cafe offered some brief but welcome refreshment and respite before the five took to the last hill. Wet and cold, the final descent seemed to take forever but all made it home safely.

Congrats to you all on an amazing achievement. Even though the elements went against you we were with you all the way! If you would like to add your donation to these guys efforts to raise money for Orphans Know More please give by clicking here

The skies withheld their forecast rain and the guests came dressed to the nines to enjoy the second Orphans Know More Summer Party, held in the Oval grounds on Saturday 23^rd of June. Attended by 200 people, organized by three vivacious and creative local Harpenden ladies, and run by a host of generous volunteers, the evening was a huge success. It achieved its purpose in raising awareness and support for the Ugandan families who are opening their hearts and homes to many children orphaned by war and HIV AIDS. It was a great honor to be joined by Sam and Irene Kisolo, who lead Orphans Know More in Uganda. Sam shared their story of adopting orphaned children into their family, and the importance of children being in families. Throughout the evening, which included dinner followed by a dance, generous donations were given and money was raised through a silent auction, sales of handmade Ugandan crafts, and a 10 pound draw. The event organizers finished in the early hours of Sunday morning, tired but very pleased that more people had heard about the plight of these many beautiful children in Uganda, and hopeful that the word and support will continue to spread.

Three Peaks Challenge 2007

From 6-8th July a group of guys from Christchurch Bushmead Church in Luton are going to tackle Three Peaks to raise money for the Ugandan families of Orphans Know More. For more information and interesting facts, please read below. We’d love to really support these guys in this great event. If you would like to donate money, just click on either of these links: http://www.justgiving.com/joshhalsey
http://www.justgiving.com/samdust

Be sure to come back and check out our website later to see how they do!

Can you tackle the Three Peaks Challenge 2007?

Take the challenge to climb the Three Peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside & Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales. Part of the challenge will be to raise money to enable children who have been orphaned, mainly due to HIV/AIDS, in Uganda, to gain a family, an education and have hope for the future.

Travel up Friday, set off early Saturday to climb the Three Peaks and return Saturday evening for a celebration meal, before driving home on Sunday morning. Accommodation will be in a Bunk Barn.

If you take the Challenge, your aim will be to raise £300 or more in sponsorship for the Orphans Know More charity.

The Challenge by Numbers:

3 Peaks

25 Miles walked

343 Miles traveled

4321 Feet climbed

6800 Calories expended

300 Pounds or more raised to help Children in Uganda.

For more information please contact:

simon@christchurch-bushmead.org.uk

brendan_roche@ntlworld.com

We’re off to a great start for the Chicken Challenge! Check out the Chicken Challenge count here on our website…it’s climbing every few days towards our target of 900 chickens for the families in Uganda! We know many of you are out there supporting our families with great enthusiasm and creativity and we are very encouraged to hear what you are doing in your communities, schools and churches. If you need more resources please let us know and we’ll send them out to you.
Thank you for your support! You are making a significant and positive difference in many lives. For those of you who have just heard of Orphans Know More, we invite you to find out more on our website or to get in touch with us – we’d love to hear from you!

For any further information, please contact us at orphans@oval.com or by telephone 01582 463243.

Orphans Know More assists African families who are fostering HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children. Last year we also helped 10 Ugandan families start small income generating businesses raising chickens and goats to feed and support their children.

In the UK you can buy a chocolate Easter egg for £2.50.