Children’s Cup has always worked hard to reach children in the broken and hurting places of the world. Our heaviest emphasis over the past several years has been in Swaziland, working with orphans and vulnerable children - most of whom were orhpaned by AIDS, live on the street or are HIV+ themselves.

We have found a strategy that has worked for us that involves the community heavily and is proving to be very successful in sparking genuine change in lives.

WHAT IS A CAREPOINT?

A CarePoint is a what its name implies: a point of care. It can be set up with as little investment as a tent and some pots and bowls. But in its most effective state, it is a central point for carrying out the programs that Children’s Cup has proven that make a difference in a child’s life forever.

A CarePoint can be looked at as a school, a medical clinic, a cafeteria, or a meeting place. No matter what program is going on at a CarePoint, each is most definitely a safe haven for hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children that are in such desperate need of hope.

(Click here for a list of Children's Cup CarePoints.)

HOW DOES IT WORK?

We don’t simply come in and take over the caring for a community’s children. We specifically target communities that are already doing what they can to help themselves and we offer resources to enable them to do it. Before we launch into a community, we ask the leaders of that community to provide us with a location, a list of names of children who are the neediest in their area. We offer to provide the food if they’ll provide the cooks and together we feed the children in their community. The result is a partnership that empowers the community rather than creating a greater dependency.

When we see that the initial partnership is working well, we then begin plans to build a CarePoint structure on the land the community provided. The CarePoint serves as a gathering point for all the children in the community, and a school for the children who are in the most desperate situations who cannot go to the public schools. Already, our students are scoring higher than the average public school student. Plus, the CarePoint children receive medical attention regularly, and are provided with medicine for their illnesses through our new medical clinic.

And possibly the most exciting aspect of the CarePoint strategy is the Kids’ Bible Clubs. The children are invited to be a part of a Bible Club that meets twice a week at the CarePoint, studying scripture together. They learn about serving and caring for others. It’s beautiful to see the change in the children when they begin to learn about the love of Jesus.

From the Bible Clubs we also have begun to select one or two children to be a part of a leadership development program we call “Dynamic.” These children are given the opportunity for more intense training and outreach involvement. We’ve already taken some on a missions trip to another community where they served the elderly and cleaned up neighborhoods.

It is exciting to see how God is giving us favor and providing us with the opportunity to partner with communities to help them help themselves. It is thrilling to see a child who is sick and hungry come to a CarePoint for a meal, be treated for his sickness and learn that he can finally go to school. Hope begins to sprout. Then as the child participates in the Bible Clubs, hope in Jesus begins to grow and then blossom in the opportunities to be involved in outreach as young missionaries themselves.

What an exciting turnaround in a life! That’s what CarePoints are all about. It’s not just feeding. It’s not just medical care. As good and vitally important as those things are, it goes so much further. It’s about developing the next generation of young leaders who will spread the hope they’ve found in Jesus.

OUR APPROACH

It takes a comprehensive approach to the orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) issue and requires treating the whole child. A CarePoint becomes a central point for providing the multiple services necessary. Physical needs are met by providing a meal and vitamins daily. Immunizations and voluntary HIV/AIDS testing are offered. Volunteers teach HIV/AIDS education. Children’s Cup invests in these children mentally by making preschool, basic literacy programs and job training available. Social support is important, teaching life skills through a youth outreach program. Kids’ Clubs give extra support and moral education. Extra care and attention is given to orphan-headed households, giving them a place to belong, to gain and identity - a place to be known.

Children’s Cup also believes in empowerment and collaboration. Unless we empower and enable people to have the desire, skills and opportunity to rise out of poverty, we only allow the problems to perpetuate. And a relief and development project always works best when you collaborate and the people being helped have a sense of being part of the answer. It helps the community and individuals to regard the problem as theirs to solve, and progress brings great pride and sense of worth to the people.

FEEDING

Feeding is the first program Children’s Cup establishes at a CarePoint. Life-saving food, along with daily vitamins is a necessity. For the majority of the children that come to a CarePoint, the meal they receive will be their only meal for that day.

EDUCATION

In most of the countries we work in, there is no free public school system. All children attending government schools must pay tuition. For many, finding money for food is almost impossible, leaving little chance of finding additional money for school. At a Children’s Cup CarePoint, children are given the opportunity to receive basic education.

MEDICAL

With no parents and no money, sicknesses that would normally be minor, such as a cold, can become life-threatening. And for a child whose immune system is already weakened by HIV/AIDS, that risk is even greater.

Children’s Cup is able to administer basic medical care at a CarePoint. We are also able to make people aware of the availability of antiretroviral drugs (ARV's) that greatly improve their quality of life. Children's Cup is getting ARV's for dozens of children who, without our help, would simply be unable to get the medicaion and would quickly succomb to death by AIDS.

PSYCHOSOCIAL

The emotional needs of children that live a life surrounded by death are immense. Research has shown that children living in this culture of death suffer from hysteria, insomnia, nervousness and a general emotional imbalance marked by anxiety, depression and grief. And due to this psychological vulnerability and economic desperation, parentless children are prone to sexual abuse and exploitation, hard labor, prostitution or pornography in order to survive.

Children’s Cup is able to train volunteers to deal with these issues and set up programs that keep children in a loving environment, surrounded by caring people who see their lives as precious.

Possibly one of the most important aspects to the development of CarePoints is linking of a local church to the CarePoint ministry. The affect on communities where churches are birthed from CarePoints is sure to be eternally significant. The children and adults in these communities hunger for hope and truth, and the combination of a CarePoint and church gives us maximum opportunity to give them that Hope - His name is Jesus.