Kidslink

For several years my husband and I have been directors of an organisation called Kidslink International. Kidslink’s aim is to meet the needs of children in developing nations. Our vision statement is “To show active Godly love, in meeting the needs of kids, spiritually, physically, mentally and socially, and to relieve their poverty, suffering and distress”.

We work in several developing nations including India, Pakistan and Tanna (Vanuatu), but our main focus is Mozambique, Africa.

We have been involved in several projects in Mozambique, including:
• digging wells to supply villages with much needed safe water supplies
• planting Moringa trees, which are known for reversing the effect of blindness due to vitamin A deficiency
• building education facilities, such as child care centres and schools
• training people who work with children, including nutrition, hygiene and spiritual matters
• providing much needed medical supplies to local medical clinics
• providing assistance to people running an orphanage
and various other projects.

Several years ago we dug a well in a small village in Mozambique which had no fresh water supply. Children were regularly taken by crocodiles while collecting water from the Zambezi River, so the well was desperately needed. The following year when our team returned to the village they found that not only did the village now have enough water to supply their entire population, but they had enough to plot a small vegetable garden to provide themselves with much needed food. The following year when the team returned they discovered that this vegetable patch had grown substantially and was now producing enough food for them to sell to surrounding villages, thereby generating an income for their village. The following year the vegetable patch spanned nearly four hectares! All of this came from one little well dug by a small team of Kidslink volunteers!!

Kidslink’s current project is to build a school for 600 students in a village called M’batwe. Currently this village has 200 children being educated by two teachers in a room the size of my lounge room, with no electricity, sewerage or running water. We are about to lay the foundations for a school large enough to house the 600 students needing an education in the area, as well as digging a well to supply desperately needed fresh water.

We will be holding a fundraiser auction on Saturday 20 October in Knox, Melbourne, to raise money to fund this project. The last auction we held in 2005 raised $25,500, every cent of which went to Mozambique. This money was used to begin construction of a Childcare/Education facility in Beira, the likes of which has never been seen in Mozambique before.

If you are interested in the work Kidslink do please log onto our website – www.kidslink.org.au for further information.