Program Goals:
The goals of our programs can easily be found in our mission statement: "To bring hope to the orphans of the world by providing food,
shelter, medical care, children's Bibles, educational assistance, adoption services and more in a manner that breaks the cycle of
dependence and promotes individual and societal productivity as well as charitable character within the community." The underlined
portion of the mission statement is the driving force and motivation behind the cumulative many thousands of hours of research into the
customs, cultures, available resources and history in each area of each country in which we work.
This is because our goals place far more emphasis on scope than on scale. Our goals apply to the individual, the community they live in,
the region, the country and the world. That's also why we have maintained a staff of professionals who now have many years of
experience working in foreign countries specifically with orphan children. We have staff with social degrees and even expertise in
adoption. The leadership of Orphan's Lifeline International have all had success in business for many years prior to joining this organization
and extensive backgrounds in advertising and marketing to help grow our faithful pool of thousands of donor/partners, therein providing
financial stability to ensure continued growth of our programs for the orphan children of the world, while being sure the current scope
and scale is sustainable as well.
Goal Specifics:
To move the children we work with from one statistical pool to another: Every child is an individual, with individual dreams and goals.
Orphan children are no different. Once their environment has been stabilized, i.e., they have shelter, adequate food, medical care, love
and nurturing, their basic critical needs have been fulfilled. This is the first key element our programs provide. This immediately moves
them from the statistical pool that says that 50% of the orphan children will not survive to adulthood. The next phase of our programs
provides opportunities for the children to act upon their own individual dreams and goals. We make sure that they receive a complete and
thorough primary education, access to counseling and mentoring and nurturing. Whenever the natural resources of the geographic
location of the home allow, we use agriculture and animal husbandry, sewing, baking, woodworking and metal working to provide the
children with additional skills and make the home and community more self sufficient. This sets the foundation for them to be an
educated, and mentally, physically and spiritually healthy young adult ready for higher education, vocational training or immediate entry
into the work force based upon their individual abilities and acheivements. This phase also moves them from the statistical pool that says
that the majority of orphans that even survive will do so without even a primary education and that the vast majority will turn to crime as
young adults in order to survive.
Becoming a productive member of their society in turn provides self-actualization and the ability to provide for themselves and a family, a
key element when coupled with the knowledge that they received all of their childhood needs, not only from their direct caregivers, but
from many caring individual thousands of miles away. This builds charitable character that makes them want to give back to their
community.
The community itself is improved in many ways: Fewer orphan children on the street, lower crime, the community is involved in caring
for its own, (often in direct opposition to custom and culture) improved economy via injection of program revenues using local merchants
and services to provide for the homes. Jobs as caregivers, security, directors, tutors, etc. are also provided that would not exist
otherwise. This helps move the community from one statistical pool to another.
The country itself and the world reap obvious benefits when the orphan children and the community move from one statistical pool to
another. Lower crime, better economies and healthy young adults contributing rather than detracting from the world society means the
programs are quite literally changing the world, one child at a time.
How do we measure our success and how do we know it works? First we recognize, that every child is an individual. Not only are their
dreams and goals individual, but their skills, abilities and drive as well. Orphan children are no different. As stated, our goal is to move
them from one statistical pool to another...to give them the same "odds" as a child living in a traditional family in an average safe
community. This is how we measure our success. Are the majority of the children that age out going on to productive lives that include
higher education and good jobs? Are they successfully integrating into society without turning to crime, abandoning children of their
own and creating orphans themselves? Are the communities they live in showing positive changes? Are cultures that don't inherently
exhibit chartitable character, now doing so?
The answer is YES! After more than ten years of implementation of our programs in some of the countries in which we are working, we
now have statistics that prove our program theory. Three examples: Homes in Russia in which 100% of all children aging out are going to
college or have found good steady jobs. Some are married with children and CARING for them.
In India, homes in which the first 5 graduating children are in college. Occurence of crime and disease related to children, cut in half in
communities we are working in. A home in the Philippines in which the first 4 graduating children are ALL in college. A home in India that
has a waiting list for entrance and the requests are coming from as far as 100 miles away. Thank you's from government officials in two
countries for our work. Government officials wanting to model their orphan care programs after ours. Complete trust from notoriously
suspicious governments... graduated children choosing jobs that help the poor and ORPHANS...the list goes on and on.
Donor / Partners have access to the evidence of all of this in the form of news from directors, photos, letters from children, etc., etc. in
the Partner Pages and receive a printed newsletter every month detailing our work.
Orphan's Lifeline International and it's partners are changing the world, and it is our pledge to continue to do so in a tranparent
manner that provides evidence of efficient, effective and sustainable programs that continue to grow in scope and scale every year!
