Care for Children

The phrase “care for orphans” brings visions of physical buildings housing large numbers of children without parents or even family members.  This outdated and sometimes problematic model is not one we employ.

Our approach is to provide financial, social and spiritual support of children without parents. Our trained childcare team works within the community to find children in need. Typically they are cared for by a family member such as a grandparent or aunt or uncle in their home.  LIA provides uniforms and supplies for school, healthcare, recreation on Saturdays, and spiritual teachings. We also take in street children who have no place to go. We place some of these children in foster homes, and those we can’t find homes for are cared for at Vice-Chairman Kigwila’s own home in Dar es Salaam.  Further, we have expanded to provide the same help to children in the areas surrounding our farms.

As a ministry of Union for the Gospel Ministry, a Christian organization, we believe in showing the love of Christ to all in need.  We provide love and care to Christian children, Muslim children, and pagan children. While we share the story of Christ with the children, never is support from LIA conditional on adherence to any doctrine other that of love.

We serve about 75 children on an ongoing basis.  The Saturday events however can be enormous!  We have had over 300 children attend. The need will always be beyond our ability to serve.  One of our favorite quotes is from Mother Theresa:  “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”