OUR MISSION

Lola Children’s Fund’s mission is to raise money to provide housing, medical and educational services for HIV-affected orphans and local children in Ethiopia. We have 501(c)(3) status through our fiscal agent, Russell Cooperative Preschool, and are in the process of applying for our own nonprofit status.

We provide funding to Lola Children's Home in Mekele, Ethiopia, a community organization providing assistance to HIV-affected families.

 

Ethiopia has nearly 5.5 million orphans, with more than 800,000 orphaned by AIDS. About 80,000 Ethiopian children are infected with HIV. In 2010, 14,000 kids were infected and 3,500 died. More than 20,000 children need anti-retroviral medications to survive.

 

Lola was founded because Mekele had no services available for HIV-positive orphans, many of whom are left without family or government support after their parents’ deaths. Many children live on the streets, receiving no food, shelter, education or medicine to help them combat the disease. As time passed, we grew to include children with HIV-positive parents or siblings whose lives had been affected by HIV/AIDS.

 

Lola Children's Home offers services to children and families. A residential program houses children with nowhere else to live. A day care program offers schooling, food and shelter during the day for children whose parents would be unable to care for them during the day. An outreach program provides funds for food, educational materials, clothing and medication for kids who need a little extra financial assistance. Lola offers mother's grants to seven mothers in the community, providing them with funds to start their own businesses and hopefully become self-sufficient enough to care for their children so that they don't have to be separated.

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About HIV

 

Ethiopia has nearly 5.5 million orphans, with more than 800,000 orphaned by AIDS*. About 80,000 Ethiopian children are infected with HIV. In 2010, 14,000 kids were infected and 3,500 died. More than 20,000 children need anti-retroviral medications to survive.

 

Sadly, stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS is still great in Ethiopia and HIV-positive people are generally shunned by their local community. Families will often refuse to accept HIV-positive kids after their parents die, leaving them with no support. As parents with HIV lose their jobs and the disease progresses, they are often unable to care for their children properly, and their kids suffer greatly as well.

 

Since Ethiopia started providing anti-retroviral medications in 2005, this generation of children has become the first to reach adulthood. Unfortunately, programs serving HIV-positive kids are mostly limited to Addis Ababa, which is a two-day bus journey from Tigray. Lola Children's Home is the first orphanage in Mekele to focus on HIV-affected children and to accept both HIV-positive and negative children. Most other orphanages will separate siblings based on their HIV status, but at Lola, they stay together.

 

With anti-retroviral treatment and general good health, people with HIV can expect to live well into their 60s and beyond.** Lola Children's Fund provides treatment and shelter for HIV orphans as well as allowing children with living HIV-positive parents to receive education, food and shelter during the day. Our family sponsorship program assists parents who are too ill to care for their children, while still allowing the family to remain together. Despite the overwhelming statistics about HIV and AIDS in Ethiopia, Lola Children's Home is a safe and caring environment for children dealing with HIV and its effects.

 

 

 

 

* National AIDS Resource Center

**thebody.com

SPONSOR

Lola Children's Fund offers three sponsorship programs for children at Lola Children's Home and the Mekele community.

 

Our resident sponsorship program is for children living at Lola Children's Home full time, and will cover a child's food, medications, clothing and school costs. Lola residents have no family who are able to care for them and no other options but to live at the orphanage. Sponsorship is $35 a month with an annual commitment, and in return for a monthly donation, sponsors will receive bi-annual progress reports about their child, as well as photos and letters.

 

Our day care sponsorship program is $30 a month and helps HIV-affected children from the community remain with their families while receiving specialized care at Lola House. The donation will provide children with a safe place to stay while their parents are at work, as well as food, medication and clothing. Sponsors of kids in the day care program will receive the same information as orphan sponsors: progress reports, photos and letters from their sponsored children.

 

We have also started a community outreach program for HIV-affected families. The program will provide families in Mekele with monthly funds for rent, food or school supplies. Unlike the funds for the resident and day care sponsorships, the money for the outreach program will go directly to the families. Family sponsorship will be $25 a month.

 

To make a one-time or recurring donation, please click here: .

 

We hope you will consider a monthly sponsorship. Your participation will allow Lola's children basic human rights: love, shelter, clothing, food and life-saving health care. Thank you.