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About Village Care International (VCI)

Village Care is a faith based organization and our founder is an ordained minister in the National Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, a conservative evangelical organization. Our leaders in Africa, for the most part are pastors, and all are church leaders from a range of denominational backgronds, mostly evangelically oriented.

VIllage Care's mission is to "equip leaders to empower Village members to care for their orphans & widows by raising their standard of living using their own resources"...literally without funding. We are a support organization providing a very effective curriculum and outcomes-based methodology for the defeat of poverty, disease, and abuse. We work in many areas of many countries, including Muslim areas, that do not typically allow Christian missions access.

Our core biblical view is one of worship in action, and evangelism by example, believing as James did that true worship in the site of God our Father is to care for, inspect, visit, and assist widows and orphans in their distress, and to remain unstained by the world (ref: James 1:27). We do not do evangelical campaigns, nor do we restrict teams to Christians only. On the ground in Africa we have many projects where the community Christians work side by side with Muslims and Traditionalists. Our goal is to create a testimony of action through our work of compassion. We believe true worship and service to our Lord Jesus in the heart of the true beleiver is expressed in his or her daily actions as a result of a transformed heart, as Jesus described in Matthew 25:32 - 48.

All of our leadership in Africa is African, which means the core role of the team is to Serve, Learn and Listen, Observe, Pray, and Encourage (SLOPE). We distinctly discourage giving in the field.

As a result of our work many National churches in Africa have been strengthened, and some new churches have even been founded. However, our mission is simply to provide a framework for effective compassion to those who want to help the poor.

A Different Approach to Compassion

View Our Brochure, Learn more about us

The Village Care Program, Community Discussions and Planning Projects

Village Care Country Initiatives initiate community discussions and planning sessions through VCI's Outcomes, Practices and Open Space (OPOS) program. Discussions are currently facilitated by our African staff of Country Directors and Village Development Coordinators.

Day 1: We ask a community what the ideal situation is for their children. What does it mean for every child to be safe, healthy, in a loving home, and receiving education? It's different for every community in the world.

Day 2: What does it take to achieve these goals? A solid foundation in sanitation, nutrition, health care, education, and economic security. What does it look like to have all of these aspects of the community functioning?

Day 3: The third day is dedicated to discussion sessions and planning. Members of the community talk about programs they can develop, resources they can tap, and action they can take to improve their community. They form project groups, elect officers, assign tasks and get started!

What happens next? View our Blog to read about progress in communities working their way out of poverty.

What are We Doing to Help Orphans in the Village?

• Supporting Community Planning
• Promoting Community Education
• Investing in Community Development

Supporting Communities through Empowerment
Village Care holds three day community discussions. Everyone is welcome to join in, with youth specifically encouraged to participate. Members of the community discuss issues and then make plans to address them. In one community, a group of active citizens found pigs living around the homes to be a sanitation problem. After meeting with farmers, the community was able to transfer and keep pigs on the outskirts of town, thereby reducing negative sanitation and health issues. Community engagement is the basis for development that is relevant and sustainable.

Promote Community Education
Village Care promotes child and adult education during community discussions by asking questions about local expectation for edcuation. Community members will then address issues of education, often by pooling their own resources to purchase school supplies, clothing, pay for school fees, etc. for children who might not be able to attend due to a lack of resources. Businesses are started with the specific goal of raising money to pay school fees for orphans, to insure an education for the least fortunate.

Invest in Village Development
Village Care encourages communities to invest funds into small and simple projects that can be sustained. This includes using funding to start small businesses, and improve small businesses to create more jobs, for example. Each community prioritizes their own issues of development and finds way to improve them over the long run.

1. Mobilize village volunteers.
   
2. Help the community form a leadership committee to identify the most vulnerable children in their village or orphanage.
   
3. Plan for Sustainability through partnership with government or in-county NGOs that meet village and orphanage specific needs.
   

Read VCI Founder David Glenwinkel's book -

The Insanity of Africa


All proceeds from sales of the book go to Village Care International.
Click here to purchase!