Access to the future for students with disabilities..

According to the World Health Organization, 80% of persons with disabilities live in developing third world countries and account for 15- 20 % of the worlds poorest. “It is important to bear in mind that facts are very hard to obtain, as so many disabled people are hidden and anonymous with regard to official statistics.”

Disabled people of working age in developed and developing countries are 3 times more likely to be unemployed and live in real poverty

Imagine being handicapped in a third world country where there is little to no help or resources. Imagine not being able to attend college because you get around in a wheel chair and there are no wheel chair ramps to access college buildings. What would your future be?

Cuttington University, one of the oldest universities in Africa, is one such university in Liberia. While Cuttington has been dedicated to helping talented, motivated students develop their skills, define their goals, and follow their dreams, they lack some much needed wheel chair ramps so that handicap students can access the buildings and attend college.

Global Orphan Outreach along with Cuttington University is inviting you to help open the world of education to students with handicaps by helping us to raise the funds necessary to build several wheel chair ramps through out the Cuttington campus. Cuttington has made the commitment to provide the labor to build the ramps and all that is needed is the funds to build them.

Wont you help today? Help these students access their college thus having access to a bright future for themselves. Contact Global Orphan Outreach and ask how you can help. All donations are tax deductible. Call us at #715-415-4401 or email us at www.globalorphanoutreach.org

Little Dresses for Africa...

Changing lives one little dress at a time…

Little Dresses for Africa is a non-profit, Christian based organization which provides relief to the children of Africa. Simple dresses are made out of pillow cases and distributed through the orphanages in Central Africa to plant in the hearts of little girls that they are worthy!

Knowing the history of the girls in Africa and the difficult road that lay ahead, a small group of ladies returning from a short term mission trip to Malawi began to sew simple little dresses made out of pillow cases to be distributed to young girls through the orphanages in Africa. It continues to grow as groups spring up across America. To date we have received dresses and donations from 47 states across the USA and received over 35,000 little dresses that have been distributed in 10 countries of Africa!

http://www.littledressesforafrica.org

Little Dresses for Africa recently sent Forget-Me-Not Children's Homes 3 big boxes of dresses to take with them to Liberia, Africa in April. The dresses are adorable and the girls will look wonderful in them. We will happily be distributing extra dresses to little girls in orphanages there as well.

Thank you Little Dresses for Africa. For helping girls in Liberia feel special, worthy, and loved. We look forward to sharing pictures with everyone when we come back in April. :0)

YOU DID IT!!!!

Fundraising Ideas

We will keep you updated on the progress of the well with Pictures. Thank you all who help bring water to this village. Every time you take a drink of clean water, keep this in mind. You can and did make a difference!!!

Habakkuk's Well Update..almost there

WOW! Funds are coming in for Habakkuk's well. We hope to hope to be putting this well in over the next month. Tell your friends and family about this awesome opportunity to bring fresh water to Habakkuk's village.




Fundraising Ideas

Habakkuk's Well

Bringing Hope and Life to a Village with Nothing.

A Brief Profile of Kpeletayama Village

From Pastor Peter Flomo, son of the village

Kpeletayama is a village in Suakoko District, Bong County, Liberia. It contains about nine huts. This village is surrounded by over ten villages with similar conditions. It is a 'village with nothing'. With the population put together, 500 persons from the town will benefit while those from the surrounding areas will also benefit from this potable water.

The people in this village are simply "existing" while others are living. They are without basic life necessities.Your help is a LIGHT IN DARKNESS. This village could be the "Nazareth of Liberia" where no one expects any good thing. For those with hearts for humanity, I invite your investment in this village and your dividend will be one of eternity.

Please consider making a donation to bring hope and life through clean water to a village with nothing.

Donations can be sent to:
Global Orphan Outreach
Attn: Habakkuk's Well
P.O. Box 97Ladysmith,WI 54848

Materials and Cost Estimates for the construction of a concrete reinforced culvert lined hand-dug well so that safe drinking water can be provided to the Kpeletayama Village and the Suakoko District in Bong County.

Item Cost
1. 40 pcs of 2 x 3 diameter of concrete culvert rings - $1,800
2. 12 cuyd of 1/2 inch crushed rocks - $200
3. 12 cuyd of sand - $175
4. Excavation above water table($5.00/ft x 60ft) - $300
5. Lining of Culvert rings in the pit - $200
6. Mounting of sanitary court yard/apron - $325
7. Suction pumping of unsafe water - $125
8. Chemicals for chemical application - $100
9. Hand Pump - $750
10. Installation of pump - $75
11. Transportation of materials to and from site - $645
12. Below water column (20 ft below) - $300

Material total: $4,995
10% contingencies $499

Project Grand Total: $5,494







Our Story:

Mark and Peggy Halvorsen have been preparing to adopt two brothers from Liberia, West Africa, for the past year. In June 2009, our hearts were broken when we were told that our youngest boy, Habakkuk, then 2 ½ , had died of cholera, a disease acquired from drinking contaminated water. Habakkuk lived and died in a village with no well. He is not the only child who died for lack of clean water. Since losing our boy, it has been our dream to build a well in his community. We are working hard to raise the funds so construction can be completed before the rainy season, which starts in April.

Thank you for partnering with us to make Habakkuk's well a reality for the people of Kpeletayama village and Suakoko distict.

--Mark and Peggy Halvorsen
#715-514-4300
peghalvo@charter.net

Your Invited...Liberian Trip 2010!

Come see us in Liberia!

Global Orphan Outreach is planning a spring mission trip. Travel date is tentatively the week of April 7^th, 2010.

This trip is for those who are interested in becoming more involved in some capacity with one of our special projects and want to see and experience first hand for themselves- Liberia and the needs of its people.

We will be visiting Forget-Me-Not Children’s Homes and its special children, fixing up and decorating some of the foster homes, visiting a University as well as building handicap ramps on campus, hold some work shops, touring Monrovia and the Bong Cty area, taking foster families out for a “day at the beach” including enjoying a Liberian style meal of chicken and rice with them. We hope to tour some hospitals, a feeding center, check out the caustic prevention/education project progress as well as taking time to drive through the 1 million acres of Firestone. There also will be plenty of free time for personal time; spending it however you wish.

Price for airfare, transportation as a group, 6 nights accommodations (air conditioned), food, and $100 donation towards the FMN program while in Liberia will be $2600. (Funds for snacks or souvenirs –you will need separately)

If you are interested in traveling with us or want more information about this exciting trip; please contact Christina Hoffman #651-353-5248 or Donna Barber #715-415-4401

*** Passport, travel visa, and yellow fever shot required***

Liberian Family receives rice-by Julie Redman

Not a day goes by (since my trips to Africa) that I don't think about how to better help and serve the people in Liberia. I am thinking about ways to improve what we are doing @ Global Orphan Outreach
and ways I can contribute to other organizations who are working on other areas. The need is so great and I wish that I could contribute more. So, when other families jump in and say they want to help...well, it is encouraging! It is so awesome to be able to bring food (or other help) to another family. We also do a school sponsorship program and working with the people in Liberia with this program I realized how important it is to see that kids are fed FIRST! It becomes very hard for a student to learn when their bellies are constantly thinking of hunger. It is hard for them to stay in school when hungry because they know if they could just sell something during the day, they might be able to eat. This is such a basic need that goes unmet everyday for many people. Many people are helping to feed people and we are happy to be able to contribute along with them!

This is a picture of a family that recently received a bag of rice by a sponsor. Her name is Millie (I love that name, it also belonged to my granmother who has passed). Millie has 3 children to provide for but no education, no other family (it is believed all her other relatives died in the war), can't really speak much English and has not had a source of income for more than 10 years! Recently she began selling charcoal which has provided some income. One of her daughters has been to school and is done, the other is currently walking FOUR HOURS each day for her education. I believe this daughter's journey will be better on a full stomach!



This is where Millie and her children are living. The above picture shows their room. It is dark, humid and the roof leaks. So many needs...but this month she will not have to worry about food.



I want to direct you to the family's blog that has blessed this Liberian family. Please visit Mama B and get to know this awesome family! Thank you B family for your support!

To learn more how you too can become involved in the Rice Bowl Project; go to:
http://www.globalorphanoutreach.com/RiceBowl.html