Love Maputo Project
The Love Maputo Project is the collaboration of 2
organizations– Masana and the Kunhymela House. Project
workers are reaching 350 children a year - making a definite
difference in a country where more than half of its populous
is under 181.
Workers bring children off the streets, provide education,
and teach income-earning skills so children don’t have to
turn to prostitution, drug running or theft to survive.
Project workers feed and clothe the children, offer medical
care, and introduce them to Jesus Christ. Children are
reunited with family or can stay with the Kunhymela house so
they get appropriate care.
Statistics
- Mozambique is a very young country, with half of it’s members under 18 years old.1 An estimated 2 million people live in the capital city of Maputo alone, but the actual population is estimated to be much higher because of slums and other unofficial settlements.
- Childhood doesn’t last long in Mozambique. In 2002, the ILO estimated that 31.9% of all children ages 10 to 14 years in Mozambique were already working.2
- A joint Ministry of Labor and UNICEF rapid assessment survey of children under 18 working in selected areas estimated that about half of all working children began working before they reached the age of 12.3
- Poverty, lack of employment for
adults, the HIV-AIDS epidemic and lack of education
opportunities are among the many factors that force
children to work at an early age.
4
The number of children coerced into prostitution is growing in both rural and urban regions, particularly in Maputo.5 - A large number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation have been already been infected with HIV/AIDS.6
- With nowhere else to go, many children live in the streets of Maputo. Street children are reported to suffer from police beatings and sexual abuse.7
- Mozambique has quickly become a source country for child trafficking.8
Masana
Masana was borne from the Reformed Church of Mozambique
and is led by Pastor Paulo and a small staff of workers
there.
The word "masana" is Shangana for "warm rays of the sun".
Masana works to integrate street children back in their
families and society. It is only the light of Jesus Christ
that will transform the lives of these young kids living on
the streets, who are regularly exposed to darkness and evil,
disease, hunger, abuse, and the constant danger of losing a
bright future for their lives.
Most of the kids Masana works with are
not orphans. It’s a
complex situation. There are so many families living below
the poverty line, that sometimes there simply isn’t enough
to go around. Sometimes kids get into trouble at home and run away. Or they come to the city in pursuit of money or
feelings of freedom. Many choose this life and others get
trapped in it.
Masana works to reintegrate these kids into their families
or place them in appropriate care centers. Workers provide
vocational training, as well as teach them mathematics,
literacy helps, English, music, recreation, sports, civic
education, and Bible studies. They feed them, give them a
clean place to shower and show Christ’s compassion to them.
Help Masana to continue helping
street children. Give any amount:
Monthly subscribe to help kids being reaching by Masana:
$50 a month:
Kunhymela House
The Kunhymela House is a community committed to ending
homelessness amongst youth in Maputo through education,
reintegration, and a communal-focused environment. Workers
are intent on providing children suffering on the streets of
Maputo with the tools necessary to once again reengage their
home communities.
They provide children with a family-centered atmosphere
that promotes the reacquisition
of skills necessary to
function in a home environment while gaining a skill set and
education that increases the likelihood of successful
reintegration into home communities. The Kunhymela House
also acts as a safe house for street kids battling illness
or injury.
Lives are changing in Maputo because of the efforts of
the workers there, the collaborating organizations, those
here in the U.S. who have been moved to act.
Donate any amount. Be part of what the Kunhymela House is doing:
Subscribe now to help Kunhymela House every month:
You can do something.
Children are coming off the streets and are being saved
from the darkest of situations. They’re getting education,
learning new ways to make a living and their lives have been
brightened by Jesus Christ. They have hope.
YOU can be a part of God's work in Maputo.
Get inspired! Read some of the
Activism Stories of people
like you and how they've gotten involved to make needed
changes in the lives of kids halfway around the world from
them.
Download the Activism Materials we've made for you
in the side bar of this page.
PowerPoint's, posters, pamphlets... everything you need! Now all you have to do
is get moving!
You can get directly involved right now from wherever you're
at, using the gifts and talents God has given you. Check out
the Do Something page for ideas of how you specifically can
make a difference, or come up with your own ideas and tell
us what you're doing!
Pray for the needs of the Love Maputo Project & rejoice in
the praises! Regular news and updates here.
Would you like to sponsor a child?
Would
you prayerfully consider sponsoring one of the boys being
helped Masana? Rather than commit to giving a little each
month, we are asking for a one-time donation of $500.
Many
of the boys have lived on the streets for a year or more.
Some choose to live with family members they may not have
lived with before. They are each beginning a new
journey with literally the clothes on their back. As
we reconnect these boys to their families, they will need
clothes, school supplies, a bed, and blankets. In
addition to this, we also help each of the boys start up a
small business in their community selling cell phone credit
or basic food items so that they can contribute to the
family finances. These are the kind of things that
your money will be used for. Your donation will not
simply be a handout but will help a boy stand on his own two
feet and start off on his own life journey. You will
be a part of reconnecting him to his family, empowering him,
and restoring his hope.
If you’d like to sponsor a Masana boy, please email Sarah at
solds19@gmail.com. She’ll
send you the profile on one of the boys, a picture of him,
information on where we are in the process of reconnecting
him to his family, and specific prayer requests.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Statistical References
[1] Prevalence, Abuse &
Exploitation of Street Children : Republic of Mozambique
(http://www.gvnet.com/streetchildren/Mozambique.htm)
[2] World Bank, World Development Indicators 2004
[CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2004.
[3] Government of Mozambique, Ministry of Labor, and
UNICEF,
Child Labour Rapid Assessment: Mozambique (Part I),
Geneva, 1999/2000, 36.
[4] U.S. Embassy - Maputo, unclassified telegram no. 1366,
October 13, 2004, UNICEF, Latest News: Increasing number
of orphaned children need care and support, 2003 [cited
August 18, 2004]; available from
http://www.unicef.org/mozambique/latest_news_12Dez03_01.htm.
[5] U.S. Dept. of Labor, Buerau of International Labor
Affairs,
Mozambique: Incidence and Nature of Child Labor, 2007
[6] U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices- 2002: Mozambique, Washington, D.C.,
March 31 2003, Section 6f; available from
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18217.htm. Some
young prostitutes in Mozambique choose to have unprotected
sex to increase their income, see HIVdent,
Child Laborers at Risk for AIDS, July 25, 2001 [cited
May 24, 2004]; available from
http://www.hivdent.org/pediatrics/pedclarfa072001.htm. See
also chapter on Mozambique in UNICEF, Child Workers in
the Shadow of AIDS, 49-60.
[7] U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2003:
Mozambique, Section 5
[8] Ibid., Section 6f. See also ECPAT International,
Mozambique,
[database online] January 6, 2004 [cited September 2, 2004];
available from
http://www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp.
Reliable numbers on the extent of the problem are not
available, but a 2003 study reported that 1,000 women and
children were trafficked from Mozambique to South Africa in
2002 to work as prostitutes, in restaurants, and on South
African farms. See International Organization for Migration,
The Trafficking of Women and Children in the Southern
Africa Region. Presentation of Research Findings, March
24, 2003, 1 See also U.S. Department of State, Country
Reports- 2003: Mozambique, Section 6f. See also U.S.
Embassy - Maputo, unclassified telegram no. 126543,
June 8, 2004.
4 Areas YOU Can Get Involved in Right NOW!
