Imagine growing up in a remote African village, with five siblings, all from different fathers and all raised by a single mother. You have only met your father once, he is married to another woman and has another family. Your mother cannot and does not want to take care of you and your siblings, so she leaves all of you on your grandmother’s doorstep. Altogether, your grandmother is now caring for 10 children. (Pictured: Charity, red shirt, and her siblings in front of their home.)

Many nights, you go to bed hungry because your grandmother struggles to afford food. You have no shelter, and instead live in other people’s unfinished homes, constantly moving from place to place when the owners find you. You spend your days continuously worried that you will not have a place to sleep at night. You have never owned nice clothes, never had enough food to eat, and never afforded school. You are filled with sadness because your grandmother, the only person in this world who cares for you, is getting older and sicker, and life seem to be getting harder and harder. You are losing hope.

In 2017, you hear about a school called African Vision of Hope rescuing orphans just like you. You apply, are accepted, and enter school as a first-grade student. From that day on, you never go another day without a meal, a safe place to sleep, an education, and knowing God’s love. Now, you’re in the fifth grade and your life is filled with hope! This is the story of many African Vision of Hope students – a story of poverty and hopelessness, but also a story of life-changing rescue.

(Pictured: Charity, left, and a fifth-grade classmate)

“Since becoming an African Vision of Hope student, I am able to see how my life has changed spiritually, academically, and physically. A Child Protection Officer brings rice to my grandmother so our family can eat and it is such a relief. I have also been chosen to live at the Village of Hope Rescue Home in Chongwe. I am able to eat well, sleep well, there is electricity allowing me to study at night, and we have Bible studies where we are taught about God’s love for us.” – Charity

For the first time in her life, Charity does not have to worry about where she will go to sleep at night, or where her next meal will come from. Unlike many young girls in her village, Charity has been given the opportunity to escape extreme poverty and the clutches of child marriage.

(Pictured: Charity’s grandmother, holding a bowl of rice given to their family by a African Vision of Hope Child Protection Officer)

Charity lives in the temporary Village of Hope with 24 other children who, just like Charity, are orphans at risk of being trafficked, or are fleeing abuse. Soon, the permanent Village of Hope will be constructed on the African Vision of Hope School Campus in Chongwe. This 4-acre campus will be home to 144 students and will be equipped with sanitation facilities, a small kitchen, and community center.