Handbook of the Orphan Ministry

at the LBS Mwika (HUYAMWI)

paper 2:  Four year plan of counselling a congregation

Released  23.1.04 Ð Author: Rev. Dr. Martin Burkhardt

 

A) Believes

The lost of parents is a lost of three sources: a spiritual source a mental and emotional  source and a material source.

As Christian we believe in the following statements:

I)              Everybody can serve the orphans

a)   As God has given us his Holy Spirit, we can be a spiritual source for orphans.

b)   As God has given us a mind and a heart we can be a mental and emotional source for orphans.

c)   As God has given us material goods, we can be a material source for orphans

II)            The Christian congregation as the Community  of Saints is the main place where the orphans are taken care of

a)   In the present situation orphanages are not the right way, because they are too expensive and cause a lot of mental problems.

b)   As the orphans need mainly new mothers and fathers and almost everybody is able and called to be a father and  a mother, there are enough mothers and fathers present in a congregation.

c)   However those who take over the responsibility for the orphans as their new fathers and mothers need the support of the bigger Christian family of believers.

 

III)          The lack of money is not the major problem.

a)   In our ministry we made the experience, that we get more money than we are able to spent properly. Our problem is to get enough trained and motivated workers to apply this money.

b)   Money is available to help the orphans, but we fail to locate this money to ask for the funds and to maintain the funds. To get money we need also trained workers.

 

Summary: To mobilize , to motivate and to train all members of the society is the key to solve the orphan crisis. This mobilization will be done in small units like the  Christian congregation.

 

B) Goals

The Orphan Ministry at the LBS Mwika is working for a limited period of time with a congregation. In this time the following goals should be achieved.

I)              Ability of the congregation to run its own annual planed orphan program.

a)   Counting orphans regularly

b)   Annual planning , budgeting and analysing

c)   One or two events in which all orphans or caretakers can participate.

 

II)            Ability to discern the different situation of the orphans

a)   Regular visits of the needy families

b)   Evaluating and prioritising the different situations.

c)   Applying the proper help for the right situation

 

III)          Ability to counsel orphans (and caretakers) and to train them according to their needs.

a)   Counselling concerning the basic rights

b)   Counselling concerning grieving and the experienced lost

c)   Counselling concerning their new family situation

d)   Counselling concerning their way of education

e)   Training in issues of the daily life (cooking, tailoring etc.)

f)     Training in issues of financial independence ( small projects)

 

IV)         Ability to apply simple  material support to the orphans

a)   Food, clothes

b)   Help for preschool and primary education

c)   Medical care

d)   Preparing to enter in secondary education or vocational training centres.

 

V)           Ability of fundraising and to maintain the funds.

a)   Mobilisation of local funds (e.g. ordinary offerings, fund raising events, local sponsors etc.)

b)   To write proper applications to get external funds

c)   Working with funds from overseas

d)   Precautions against misuses of funds

e)   To apply the funds properly to the beneficiaries.

f)     Bookkeeping and reporting system

 

VI)         Ability to organize the work effectively

a)   A well working committee (s)

b)   Mobilizing and training of local experts

c)   Simple rules and regulations

 

VII)       Ability to cooperate

a)   With the local authorities

b)   With NGOs

c)   With service agencies

 

C) Strategies

I)              We will not pay every cost concerning orphans

a)   We will not sponsor normal running costs of the congregation, like salaries, except pocket-money for orphans employed by the congregations.

b)   The congregation has to start to spent a part of its own budget on the orphan ministry.

II)            We will not do all the work for the congregation

a)   The congregation has to develop its own plan and has to present it to us including proper calculation

b)   The congregation is responsible to carry out the planned work (e. g. organizing seminars, providing the planned help)

c)   The congregation has to give us a written report about the done work and the actual costs.

III)          We will help the congregation to develop their own ideas

IV)         We will compare the planned work with the actual done work and we will give the congregation a feed back.

a)   By visiting orphans and caretakers randomly we will gain knowledge about the actual situation and the real effect of the measures carried out by the congregation

b)   We will also check randomly the bills of some events sponsored by HUYAMWI

c)   In case of any doubt, that the money was not used properly we have to inform the committee of HUYAMWI, who will then delegate to other members to check all bills or speak with all receivers.

d)   In case of any doubt feel free to speak with orphans/ caretakers alone in the absence of the pastor.


D)  A four year plan.

This plan is to be changed according to the actual ability and actual developments in every congregation. It is presumed, that in all four years the responsible workers of the congregation are trained and monitored by HUYAMWI constantly

Also the work started in one year is to be continued in the following years. For example First year a) Introducing the ministry of HUYAMWI is not finished in the first year. Because there must be a constant flow of information between HUYAMWI and the congregation. The counting of orphans and a yearly new identification of the most needy families is also very important every year.

 

I)              First year: Starting  with HUYAMWI

a)   The ministry of HUYAMWI is introduced in the congregation, it is necessary to talk with the church elders, preaching on Sunday.

b)   The congregation have to start an annual program of the orphans ministry including  planning, budgeting and analysing.

c)   There should be a committee in the congregation, which is responsible for this kind of planning

d)   The congregation starts to know its orphans. This means a census should take place and the orphans / and caretakers may be invited to different seminars, occasions to the church.

 

II)            Second year:  Starting to know the needs of the orphans and to respond to them.

a)   The congregation should visit the orphans and analyse the different needs of the orphans. The most needy families must be identified.

b)   According to the available budget a first plan of providing help to the most needy families is to be planned and carried out by the congregation.

c)   The different groups of orphans / caretakers may be gathered in selfhelp- groups and may be trained in different areas.

 

III)          Third year: Introducing Fund-Raising

a)   The selfhelp-groups may be given money to start income generating projects.

b)   Within the congregation there should be plan to raise as much money as possible for the orphans, e. g. asking rich people, making harambees, making offerings etc.

c)   The congregation may try to get money from external resources ( NGOs, government, partners in oversees)

IV)         Fourth year: Fine-tuning

a)   The work of the recent three year may be analysed and changed in order to improve the work.

b)   The Internal Organisation of the congregation may be analysed and improved if necessary.