LIGHT OF HOPE - The day shelter for street kids provides a daily bowl of rice and vegetables, clean clothes, showers, Bible stories and educational opportunities for 16 children.

• Malnutrition plagues many Bangladeshi children from birth: 30% of babies suffer low birth weight, and around half of pre-schoolers are underweight or stunted.*
• Thirty million children live in poverty, without access to education or basic health care.  For many girls, marriage is the only economic option; 58% marry between the ages of 16 and 18. Many of these young women are victims of domestic violence.*
• Despite a successful initiative to end child labor in the garment industry, 3.3 million children are still working in Bangladesh - many in hazardous occupations.*

MUDZINI KWETU CENTRE - Provides shelter, legal representation, rehabilitation, and spiritual nurturing for 30 girls, ages 1 through 18. The home, near the east coast of Kenya, cares for children who have either been abandoned, rescued from the slums, or who have been abused. There are currently seven staff members. The center was started and continues to be operated by Kenyans.

• Despite recent economic growth, nearly a quarter of the population lives on less than $1 per day.*
• An estimated 10,000 to 30,000 children have been caught up in the commercial sex trade. Many children resort to prostitution as a way to support themselves after fleeing violence in their homes.*

OPEN ARMS FOR ASIA (OAA) - OAA encompasses four projects in Northern Thailand which began four years ago with the planting and building of churches in hilltribe villages.

The ministry has grown to include a foster care home and orphanage called The Gentle Nest, along with a home for pregnant girls in crisis which offers a safe environment, medical expenses, Bible studies, and parenting classes for those desiring to keep their babies.

OAA also runs H2O, a hang-out for teenagers where the kids gather for Bible studies, singing, conversation, and games.

• More than 1 million children are thought to be in need of special protection, including orphaned children, children affected by HIV/AIDS, street children, children with disabilities, children in conflict with the law, child laborers and children without birth registration.*
• The trafficking of children continues, both within Thailand and internationally.*
• Despite decades of rapid development, many groups in Thailand have been left behind, particularly ethnic minorities, migrants, refugees and the very poor. Their children are often severely disadvantaged and denied their rights to survival, protection, development and participation.*

In conjunction with the orphanage, a United Kinsman program has been established that pairs Vietnamese families at risk with U.S. families who provide financial assistance, and who develop relationships through pictures and correspondence.

• Malnutrition affects nearly 30% of all children under the age of five.  Poverty, not seeking health care services and lack of understanding of good dietary practices such as breastfeeding and the need for iodized salt, contribute to this high figure.*
• Drinking dirty water and poor sanitation account for most of the deaths and diseases among Viet Nam’s youngest children. More than half of the country’s rural population lacks access to a safe water supply and only a third of rural dwellers have adequate sanitation facilities.*