AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES we are committed to the development and implementation of a comprehensive care model for orphaned and abandoned children who are homeless, widows and youth in communities in Uganda. The name AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES represents the depth and breadth of what we do. This name demonstrates our commitment to comprehensive care for all the orphans children, youths and widows who are suffering in the Uganda. We see a child’s ability to share and fulfill their abilities and passions as a blessing to the world and we work to support and enable each child’s transition to a life of hope and empowerment.
AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is a nonpartisan, none profit making international Organization, registered as a 501c by the USA, FLORIDA STATE Government. Founded by DAVID DUNN in the 2017 with the purpose of helping and working with children and young people who are in need.
AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES acts an umbrella organization, supporting a range of locally based projects in Uganda. We currently have 12 orphanages understand our care. The programmatic focus of AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is to unite people together for social change, to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, to provide emergency relief to children and families in desperate need, to seek educational sponsorship for children and to improve livelihoods, health and sanitation in the local community. AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES also supports widows and vulnerable young women, including those suffering from HIV/AIDS, through counseling and awareness raising outreach work. AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES has a vision to empower communities to make lasting change and improvement in their lives and the lives of children, youth and people with disabilities to successfully realize a brighter future.
Key areas of work:
Providing a safe place of residence for children who have lost their parents and relatives as a result of war and HIV/AIDS in Uganda
Providing food, basic healthcare and clothing for children under our care
Sponsorship of children’s education through our project called Community Development Project (CDP), including provision of books and pens for the children
Providing counseling and awareness raising about HIV/AIDS and children’s rights
Currently, AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is still a very young Organization and does not receive much funding, only one-off donations. It is entirely run by volunteers, headed by DAVID DUNN who is the Managing Director and the founder of AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES. AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is based in Florida United States of America. Since opening in 2017. AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES has established a competent Board of Directors, a standard constitution, established the office and registered 200 beneficiaries in Uganda. At present AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is directly taking care of 200 young children who some living with HIV positive their age is between 2 to 16, old age group of widows most of them are living with HIV/AIDS, group of child mothers and we are also taking care of 200 orphans children at AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES pattern Orphanage Homes, providing shelter and food for them in small rented building
Major Problems we are facing: Despite of the above successes, AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES Homes still have a lot of challenges to encounter: we have a number of Challenges that really jeopardize some of the programs listed below are the major Challenges we are facing at the moments.
Urgent Needs:
Lack of food for feeding children under our cares
Lack of medical supplies and money for health checks
Lack of sleeping items; beds, blankets, bed sheets, mattresses, and mosquito nets
Lack of clothing and shoes for the children
Insufficient Money for paying our children education
Other Needs:
Lack of fund for contracting class rooms for the children
Lack of fund for constructing mini clinic for the children at the different orphanage
Lack of educational materials like books etc.
Lack of funds for buying land, Farm tools, oxen etc. for our orphanages farms
Lack of Play and Sports Equipment etc.
Therefore we are requesting you to give us any assistance possible. We shall be grateful for your cooperation and company with us to restore hope, faith, love and better education for the children who lost their parents and relatives as a result of war and HIV/AIDS in Uganda East Africa. Please email us today at: azusastreetministries@gmail.com if you also have a will soul to sponsor one child education or how you can get involved in this project for helping the children and youths in eastern Uganda.
Currently AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is looking for people like you to be our organization representative in your country to help us raise funds for helping children at AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES, also be our team leader to bring people yearly from your country these who would like to come and volunteer to work with the children at our different organizations and the Uganda at large. For more information please email us with your interest at azusastreet143@gmail.com
The sister member organizations of AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES are young, coming from very poor backgrounds but they bring with them a wealth of experience, bright ideas, unquestionable abilities and commitment. AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is dreaming big: they are starting small in Florida but the organization has future aspirations to gradually expand operations to cover a wider region of Africa, providing high quality care, protection and education to children and young people.
AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is committed to the development and implementation of a comprehensive care model for orphaned and abandoned children in Uganda. We aim to strengthen each child and the organizations serving them through programs that are locally relevant and sustainably executed.
We strive to:
Inspire orphaned and vulnerable children in Uganda to realize their full potential by providing funding, partnerships and resources for education, vocational training and economic development.
Cultivate each child's unique abilities through empowerment and leadership development, inspiring individuals and local communities to pursuit their goals and dreams. Promote innovation and enable self-sufficiency. Eradicate stigma and prejudice.
Our Goals for Sustainable Development:
Refine a sustainable model of comprehensive care that is relevant across diverse communities and that is responsive to complex needs.
Implement the model with partner organizations to enable increased capacity, comprehensive care, sustainability and income generation.
Partner with micro-finance organizations to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for youth in their local community.
Formalize partnerships with scholarship providers in each community to increase educational opportunities for all orphans.
Identify communities in need of a sustainable orphanage model and engage local community and web of partners to build and sustain such a facility and resource center.
Extend focus and model to address needs of war torn and displaced communities with high orphan populations to reinvigorate culture, invest in local youth and instill hope for change and progress.
What we currently do:
We offer residence for 200 children who have lost their parents and relatives as a result of war and HIV/AIDS in Uganda e.g. children who are homeless and street children, we also work with youths and HIV affected groups of widows providing counseling and support.
We visit schools and churches to teach them about HIV/AIDS and children’s rights
We sponsor children education under our project
We provide clothing, books, and pen for the orphanage children, widows and vulnerable children
Praise and worship / fellowship in our orphanage center.
We do charitable work to help disable and vulnerable people in the communities especially people living with HIV/AIDS
We expose our children and youths to different games so that they can identify their talents skills. Our Association is also committed to: evangelize and disciple children, youth and couples in the kingdom of God. Matthew 11:28-30. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my Yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my Yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
How we work
(Approach and Programming)
Livelihoods Support.
At AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES, we believe that a family is generally the optimal environment for a child to grow and develop. Our care and support is therefore premised on this timeless principle. For many children who still have someone to accommodate them, someone of their blood, we encourage them to remain in a loving family situation in which stability, care, predictability, and protection can be maintained. We support their caregivers to build their capacity to improve their livelihoods. This often through Income generating activities, Skills training and provision of material support for the most vulnerable
Some of these are either ill or widowed parents, elderly grandparent, or young person left behind trying to make ends meet to support their young siblings. Through this kind of approach, we have been able to nurture a protective environment for the children we support. The ‘Home’, we believe is not an optimal place for child development, sustainability, or cost-effectiveness. However, there have been extreme situations, when residential care could be the only practical alternative; for example, abandoned children, particularly HIV positive children, for whom there is no alternative. In all cases however, we try to maintain strong links with extended families, and strategize for the reintegration of children back into the community and securing a stable, family for them. Our focus is on keeping relatives together.
Food and Nutritional Support
Food and nutritional support are a very important of programs. Many children in our community are malnourished. We provide food for both the resident and non-resident children. However for the non-resident children, food is provide on a weekly basis while the residents feed on a daily basis at the home where they are staying. This food is bought from the small financial donations we receive from the well-wishers. The community members have also been supportive to our organizations. We have received enormous food support from them towards these children. We would also like to start providing supplementary foods distributions for persons living with HIV/AIDS many of whom are the caregivers and surviving parents of some for these children. We welcome any donations in support of this very essential component of our programming.
Shelter and Care
In Uganda region, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has overloaded impoverished families to the point where many children are left without suitable shelter or care. Those children who find themselves without a caregiver become highly vulnerable to abuse and stunted development. At AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES, we have residence where children who need residential care can be accommodated. We also have another house where other children can be accommodated. We are however looking for big land and money for construction of our own premises where we can broaden our plan and operations. We however focus on the most effective responses where the families, households and communities are at the center of the interventions.
Protection
AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES considers protection to be very basic premise on which the home was founded. We put the interested of the child and his or her family above all else. Our programs include efforts to confront and minimize the reality of stigma and social neglect faced by marginalized and vulnerable children. We try to ensure that children are not abused and exploited just because of their social status. We are developing an advocacy plan to try to network with legal service providers to give legal aid services to these children especially in matters relating to of inherited property, and land tenure.
Psychosocial Support
We believe that Healthy child development hinges greatly upon the continuity of social relationships and the development of a sense of competence. HIV/AIDS can undermine the fundamental human attachments essential to normal family life and child development. We realize that some of the Children at AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES sister organizations are affected by HIV/AIDS suffer anxiety and fear during the years of parental illness, then grief and trauma with the death of a parent. Cultural taboos surrounding the discussion of AIDS and death often compound these problems. Children and their caregivers need love and emotional support, and the opportunity to express their feelings without fear of stigma and discrimination. We have therefore designed programs that provide children with support that is appropriate for their age and situation, and recognize that children often respond differently to trauma and loss. We have and cases of children who had turned to drugs and alcohol as a means of coping with this trauma. We on a consistent basis try to find innovative means of erasing these counterproductive activities amongst these children through offering value laden skills and activities for them.
Education and Vocational Training
Education support is an essential part of our OVC programming. We believe that educations not only benefit the individual child, but can also serve as important resource centers to meet the broader needs of communities. Schools can provide children with a safe, structured environment, the emotional support and supervision of adults, and the opportunity to learn how to interact with other children and develop social networks. An education is the key to employability and can also foster a child’s developmentally important sense of competence. We therefore identify the barriers to accessing this education and break the barriers. Girls in our communities are more affected by this problem. So we have and are committed to addressing the disproportionate levels of risk they face when leaving school at an early age. Schools must also be made safe for children, especially girls. For children who may not be able t continues with formal education, we need to start providing vocational skills for better
Livelihoods.
The homes have not yet secured enough funds to have children in boarding schools. As such most children are supported in local community schools. We have built on the opportunity of free education to ensure that children affected by HIV/AIDS have access to education. AZUSA STREET MINISTRIES is seeking funding and support for the above projects.