According to Peter Singer, CEO of a non-profit in Canada that funds health and development projects in developing countries, “There’s a huge waste of brain power. It’s like taking 200 million brains around the world and throwing them into 200 million waste bins. Wasting brain power is a great way to make sure poor countries remain poor – and that’s why reversing it is so important.”
This quote points to one of Covenant World Relief’s core values: holistic community development. A number of CWR’s project in developing countries around the world focus on transformational development in the lives of children and their families.
- Our project in East Asia has started an after-school program for children whose parents have left them in order to find work in other places. These children are prone to learning disabilities, depression, and delinquencies.
In partnership with Covenant Social Services in India, children who face persecution as a religious minority are given the opportunity to receive education. Education will allow them to learn about disease prevention, vocational training, and basic rights education.- Working with the Evangelical Covenant Church of Kenya (ECCK), Covenant World Relief is providing education for Congolese refugees living in Kenya. Even more, refugee parents are able to begin looking for work, knowing that their children are cared for during the day.
- In South Sudan, CWR is working with vulnerable children who have been orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These children are also marginalized because of other complicating factors such as malnutrition, poverty, and medical issues. This project helps to alleviate the hardships that these children face.
- Young teens in Vietnam are given new hope because of a CWR project in partnership with South-East Asian Relief. This project provides them with vocational training and the good news of the gospel so that they can break out of the cycle of poverty and support themselves.
Through holistic community development projects like these, children are given the opportunity for a new life of hope. They are able to live to their fullest potential, thus providing hope for their families and communities.
