Dear Friends and Family,
I have some exciting news to share with you. On August 26th, 2009, I will be boarding a plane for Livingstone, Zambia to begin a 6-12 month period of community service with Ebenezer Child-Care Trust, a non-profit Christian organization committed to serving orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia.
As many of you know, I graduated from California State University, Long Beach this May with my Master’s degree in social work. I also volunteered for 9 months last year in Zambia where I started a child sponsorship program and raised money for a small preschool. It has been a lifelong goal of mine to achieve an advanced degree in counseling and continue to work in Africa where I can serve people in great need. This dream is finally becoming real.
Ebenezer Child Care Trust was founded in 2001 as a small feeding program for street kids. Mrs. Ranji Chara, pioneered this project. They were initially able to feed street kids a few times a week, according to the funding they received. As funds grew they rented out the 1st house in June 2001 and moved the street kids into it. They now had a stable home environment and a sense of family life. Today, Ebenezer has built three houses for Orphans and Vulnerable children. Construction is presently on the way in building a Home for Babies who have been abandoned or neglected due to the death of their mothers. By the Grace of God Ebenezer has been able to acquire land for building their new children’s homes. They have also been able to acquire a 40 acre farm land for Agriculture purposes. This would enable the project to be more sustainable. They also hope to put up a building to train orphans and vulnerable children in Agriculture, so that they may learn a life-skill as well as open a Medical Center when funds are available. A medical center would provide basic health services and education to orphans and staff at the homes and also those from the school and surrounding communities.
Ebenezer currently provides accommodation for 30 orphans and street kids. The children receive parental care from the house-mother and staff in these homes. Ebenezer also runs a Primary School located a few kilometers away from the orphanage. The school provides free education for over 280 orphans and vulnerable children and also supplements their diet with a highly enriched porridge, and lunch. The children enrolled in this school come from the neediest parts of townships in Livingstone. They are provided with all school supplies, clothes, shoes, food, counseling and loving care by caring staff.
For 6-12 months I will work with orphans and vulnerable children helping them to gain the skills and resources they need to become healthy adults. This means I will be counseling children who need additional support after losing key family members, tutoring children, teaching English courses, and responding to circumstances as they present themselves. This is a chance to use the skills and knowledge I have gained to serve others.
To be able to help at Ebenezer, I need to find a way to raise $1800 to cover my plane ticket and $400-500 a month to cover basic living expenses and to meet tangible needs while in Zambia. I am writing to ask you to prayerfully consider offering your support and prayers and I am very appreciative of any donation you can offer. All gifts are tax-deductible through a 501(c)3 organization called Generosity in Action that Ebenezer uses in the U.S. Ebenezer is a registered charitable organization in Zambia under Registration Number C/697. It is governed by a Board of Directors in Zambia. Quarterly financial statements are sent to their main donors and close supervision of this project is undertaken at all times.
If you are interested in donating, you have the option of either donating on-line at www.generosityinaction.org or sending a check payable to Philanthropic Ventures Foundation to:
Generosity in Action
c/o Philanthropic Ventures Foundation
1222 Preservation Park Way
Oakland, CA 94612-1201
Please make sure to note that the money is allocated for Ebenezer Child-Care Trust-Erin Hartzell. You will receive confirmation of the qualifying donation and 501(c)3 status directly. Also, by checking with your employer about a corporate matching gift program, your donation could go even further.
Thanks very much for your kind consideration. I appreciate your continued prayer for me and the entire organization, in addition to the countless numbers of hurting people in Zambia.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding my trip, please feel free to contact me via the contacts seen below. I also encourage you to visit http://www.ebenezerchildcare.org to find out more information about the organization itself.
Again, thank you so much for all of your support. Know that your donations are not only helping me, but are helping a very needy community in Zambia.
Sincerely,
Erin Hartzell
erinnhartzell@yahoo.com
Ebenezer Child-Care Trust Mission Statement:
“A place to call home and someone to call Mother.”
* To rehabilitate orphans/street kids and to help them become responsible citizens one day.
* To educate orphans in formal education and in vocations such as carpentry, agriculture etc.
* To make the project as self-sustaining as possible by growing our own vegetables, raising
chickens and goats for meat and building homes to eliminate rental costs.
