We have recently launched our appeal to support AIDs orphans in Malawi in going to school. We have pledged to support each child through 5 years of school. This page is going to provide background behind this project, images of some of the schools we're working in and, hopefully at some point, feedback from the children themselves!

The next tab gives a more detailed account of why we started this project and how it works.

When I returned from Malawi back in May, I happened to read an incredibly moving quote from a 14-year-old girl who lives there. "I wish I had someone who could tuck me in at night", she said. What moves me is that I know she, like countless others in Africa, have been orphaned by the disease AIDS. Her parents have died leaving her alone.

AIDS in Malawi is a daily, hopeless reality for an estimated 14% of the population. Today, there are half a million children who have lost both parents due to the disease.

Do you know what else I realised following my trip to Malawi? Kingfisher Church in Malawi is doing a wonderful job of serving and caring for children who find themselves in this awful, orphaned place. During our stay in Africa we learned that church families are caring for an increasing number of these kids. Sometimes welcoming them into their families, sometimes regularly checking in on them and providing meals for them. Our Malawi friends don't have much in the way of resources to go around, but they are giving the little they have into God's hands and seeing him use it to encourage many orphaned children.

Caring for these little ones is a wonderful and vital task! I'm so proud to be part of a church who just does this without thinking twice. But do you know what strikes me? These kids need more than day to day care and supervision, they need to be able to look forward in life with hope in their little hearts.

What if Kingfisher Church in the UK were to get involved? What could we do to improve their lives...to give them hope?

Well, at our 2010 Harvest Service on 3rd October, we launched a project to provide a 5 year Scholarship for children in Kingfisher Malawi who have been orphaned by AIDS. We are going to pay £50 a year to support each child. Unbelievably, this is all it costs to fund a year's schooling out there.

Education is the missing component in so many Malawian children's lives. And the tragedy is, with some skills and some basic schooling, a better and healthier standard of living in Malawi is possible. These kids can train to become people who make a real difference in moving the nation of Malawi forward in the future.

We launched the project with 40 kids in mind. But our hope is that we will be able to support many more. Why? Because we think that helping these little ones is on God's heart. And He's let us in on their situation because He wants us involved in making their little lives better.

We can't change what has happened to their Mums and Dads. We can't rewrite the past, but we can do what it takes to fill their future lives with some hope. What a privilege it's going to be to watch as these little ones grow, as they develop into the new and wonderful opportunities that come along for them. Who knows what these kids will grow up to be one day?

We hope to post some updates here on how these children are getting on. So stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, please drop me an email if you would like to know how we are getting on at info@kingfisher.org.uk. OR please visit our Facebook Group.

Stuart Gray, October 2010