Faith Children's Village

Leading Children to Christ

A Brief History of FCV

As a response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, God burdened our heart to do something to help meet the needs of orphans in Zambia who were not being cared for by the traditional family unit. After two years of prayerful consideration, the ministry of Faith Children’s Village Orphanage began.

Rev. Philip Hunt served as the Director of FCV from 2003 until February 2014. His goal was to train competent leadership and these capable men and women to lead the ministry. In March 2014 the Board of Directors appointed Pastor Mukuka Chilando as Director of Faith Children’s Village.

Today, there are eight houses for orphaned children, three administrative housing units and staff housing on 25 hectares of property. In addition, there are two houses (dormitories) for our older children and an education building (6 classrooms) and a multi-purpose center. Amano Academy opened in 2013 and serves grades 1-7.  Faith Children’s Village currently serves 64 orphaned children and has a staff of 22 Zambians and two American missionary volunteers.

Faith Children’s Village is primarily funded through donations to IBMGlobal (www.ibmglobal.org) in the USA. All funds go directly to the ministry of Faith Children’s Village and are spent according to annual approved budget approved by the Zambian Board of Directors.

Would you please pray for us as we labor to bring children to Jesus Christ and train them to be faithful servants of Christ.

For more information contact Mukuka Chilando at mchilando@gmail.com.

When Do Children Exit FCV?

Grads
Grads

A good question that is often asked is, “When do children exit (graduate) from Faith Children’s Village?”  Today we wanted to share with you the way each child is evaluated once they turn 18yrs old.

CHILDREN 18YRS OLD OR OLDER WHO WISH TO EXIT

Every year end, FCV will open its doors to all those children who have attained the age of 18 to graduate from the Village (exit) and be re-united with their extended families.  FCV will inform all those desiring to graduate when they will graduate.

As they exit FCV will plan a graduation ceremony for them which will be their official send-off.

CHILDREN 18YRS OR OLDER BUT DESIRES TO STAY

Each child who is above the age of 18, but desires to stay at FCV because they have not yet finished their high school education has the right to apply for an extension.  These children will be required to fill in an application for extension form which will be subject for approval or decline by FCV management based on the applicant’s actions and attitudes in the past. If granted the extension be valid for 12months (1Jan – 31Dec).

CHILDREN UNDER 18YRS OLD BUT DESIRES TO EXIT

FCV retains the legal custody to all children under the age of 18 in accordance to the statutory regulations of the Zambian Government through the District Social Welfare Office. If there are extended family members who would like to take custody of the child, they will are required to fill in an application to exit form in which they will have to state clearly WHY they want to have the child. This application will have to be handed in 3 months before proposed date of exit in which FCV management will carry out the necessary investigations on the matter before drawing up a conclusion. Not every application will be approved by management, only special cases will be considered meaning, valid reasons must be stated in the applications.

ZAMBIA ORPHANAGE – Department of Social Services

The Government through the department of Social welfare has derived several alternatives that we may opt for after the child has attained 18 years.

ALTERNATIVE #1

At 18yrs, children should be taken back to their families according to social welfare regulations.

ALTERNATIVE #2

All children who are above the age of 18 must not live with children who are below that age. When a child attains such an age (18), and family is not found; it is the responsibility of Government through Department of Social welfare to determine the next course of direction.

ALTERNATIVE #3

If by ‘’actions and attitudes” the child agrees to continue their stay (after attaining 18), and FCV management considers their request to stay on, then this child will be relocated to a separate dormitory until such a time they complete their school/college and decide to exit. Dormitory admission will be subject to annual renewal, a child will reaffirm his/her desire to stay on by filling the Application for Extension form, if not then they are stating they want to exit.

All those children who get credits or better on grade 12 exams will automatically be eligible for bursary to all government universities and colleges.  Faith Children’s Village will work in conjunction with Department of Social Welfare to help send this child for higher education (college/University).

ALTERNATIVE #4

For those children who won’t pass exams at grade 9 and 12, FCV will help set them up in skills training institutions (e.g. carpentry, tailoring, Farming). So that they can learn any form of trade they choose from what is available. When these kids go on break from their respective training Sites, Colleges and Universities, they can come back home to (FCV) for their holidays and/or even go and live with relatives if arranged with managemnt.

Through this Exit Plan, we hope to answer a lot of questions concerning a child’s future.  This entails that all stake holders are fully aware of the happenings concerning a specific child.
For more information please contact the Director of Faith Children’s Village, PO.Box 21388 Kitwe. mchilando@gmail.com

Amano Academy: Answer to Prayer!

Teen Youth Camp

In April our teen boys and girls were privileged to attend a week long “Youth Bible Camp” organized by our local churches. God spoke to the hearts of some of our children and we have seen evidence of some life changing decisions. We praise the Lord for His never failing love and grace!

Theresa Nawakwi, decided to start a living a life that is pleasing before God and recommitted to serious Bible devotions. Maxwell Chipulu (below left) has had a weakness for bad friends and worldly music. During the week Max made things right with the Lord. Alright Vilukayi (below right) struggles a bad temper and losing control. He has been challenged to humble himself and replace his anger with love!

Decisions like these are the rewards of serving in ministry!

Please pray for these children as they pursue righteousness with the help of the Lord.

Amano Academy

We have undertaken the second phase of construction for our school building for Amano Academy. Foundation work is complete for three additional classrooms. We have used the funds that God had provided and now trust Him for the completion of these classrooms.

It will take an additional $15,600 to finish building these classrooms. Please pray with us that if God wills, funds may come through for this project.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support of Faith Children\’s Village Orphanage! You are a blessing to us!

In Christ,

Mukuka Chilando
Director
mchilando(at)gmail.com

Training to Use Portable Well-Drilling Kit

Faith Children’s Village is so thankful for our cooperating partners that came to our aid and made this well drilling training project a reality.

We praise HIM for providing the finances to see this thru. Four (4) of our older boys and four (4) of our staff joined force to break into two teams that would be trained to work with the drill kit. The Team that was here to train us, first started out with the theory and later in the week began to show us, and train us with the practical. “Learning the technique involved and how to coordinate a team was a marvel to watch.”

Our young boys stepped up to the task given to them and did very well. During training, our teams (under instruction) successfully dug a well of about 12mtrs in depth, installed a hand pump and it is working, supplying our tomatoe plants with water and giving our village safe drinking water.

We already have offers of people around community interested in having these wells done for them. We would like to partner with Water4 and have those special pumps supplied to us as they are ideal for a remote place like where we are. We trust and hope this will be another way to help our young people earn a living in future. The village can also benefit from this project.

Logistics are underway and the management team of Faith Children’s Village is working towards a sound business proposal so that we can in the near future get this project going. We for the moment are sinking wells around our 5 hectares of land that we are on. This will be an additional help to our water reticulation at the village.

To all parties that made this possible, we are saying, ” thank you so much for your help and God bless you!”

Sincerely,

Pastor Mukuka Chilando
Director – FCV

January Spotlight

Greetings to all! The month of January 2014 was a busy month. Here is a brief summary of what has taken place.

On the 1st January 2014, Faith Children’s Village finally opened a new home – the ‘girls dormitory’ for our older girls who 18 and older. Some of our children had late starts in school and still a ways to go to complete their high school education. Having our older children advance to the dorms has been a blessing. As our children mature, we want to give our older children semi-independence as we prepare them for re-integration into the community. Maureen Tembo, Justina Banda, Nancy Fumpa, Delphistus Kabwe, Everlyn Pierre, Kabaso Banda and Addessy Kabungo are the 7 girls admitted into the girls’ dorm. Praise the Lord that the transition has taken place smoothly.

School started for all our children on 13th January 2014. Fifteen (15) of our older children in 10th-12th grade are transported to school with our school bus and this season (rainy season) has the Kafue river flooded and with high current, forcing us to drive around and not use the pontoon. The means we must start of early in the morning to drive 20 km on a dirt road that has parts partially washed away before we get to the main road – this is always the challenging part! Pray for us as we make the long trek every school day, we are at the peak of the rainy season.

Amano Academy (the name given to our school at Faith Children’s Village) finally got started with all our primary school children (Nursery – 7th grade) attending this school. Months of planning and preparation has finally yielded fruit. We have 3 local teachers and one missionary teacher. Of the 3 local teachers, is Maureen Tembo (who just completed her secondary level of education) and is employed as a Trainee Teacher. Maureen just got her 12th grade exam results and did very well. She got a first division (total of 15 points). This means, she can be accepted at any college or university in Zambia. Maureen enjoys teaching and she hopes to become a teacher one day, – we praise the Lord for the good results attained.

We do have several new children and are looking for sponsors to take them. If you would be interested in sponsoring a child at Faith Children’s Village please get in touch. Our office would be happy to connect you with one of the children in need!

Thank you for your prayers and support. Continue to remember us in your prayers.

Yours Sincerely,
Pastor Mukuka Chilando
Assistant Director – FCV