…15-year old Zandile Sibanze, who lived all by herself, now has food every day. She has also been able to re-enroll in school, and has a community caretaker looking after her; the Dlamini brothers, ages 9 and 13, were able to buy a pregnant goat; now they have a herd of seven; and Zweli Mngomethulu and Phumizile Madolo are able to go to school for the first time in three years. Zweli is #2 in his Grade 2 class, while Phumzile is #3 in Grade 3.
In February 2006, Young Heroes launched its operations in support of the orphans of Swaziland, the country with the world’s highest rate of HIV/AIDS. According to UNICEF, more than 15% of Swaziland’s population – over 150,000 children – will be orphans within the next three years.
As Young Heroes begins its third year, it now provides assistance to just under 400 orphan families with 902 children.
Young Heroes’ mission is to keep orphan families of Swaziland alive, healthy and living together as a unit on their homesteads and in their communities, where they have the greatest sense of safety and security. The organization accomplishes this by linking the children with sponsors who provide monthly stipends of $19.95 or $29.95 per child per month for food, clothing and other necessities such as medicine and school fees. Unlike many other child sponsorship programs, Young Heroes delivers these cash grants directly to the sponsored family. A growing body of research from Kenya, South Africa and other countries supports the advantages this model of delivering small grants directly to the household level.
All operating costs of Young Heroes are underwitten by Swaziland’s National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), so 100% of donations go directly to supporting the orphans.
A Year of Growth
The past year was one of significant growth for Young Heroes. Among its highlights:
• The number of families supported grew by 56%.
• Young Heroes Foundation received 501(c)(3) non-profit certification from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and constituted its first formal board of directors.
• The donor base continued to diversify, with funding received from foundations, corporations, schools, churches and individuals in 17 countries.
• Young Heroes expanded its partnerships with other organizations in Swaziland in order to better assist the families we serve, including the Swazi Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), Swazi National Association of People with HIV/AIDS (SWANEPHA), World Altering Medicine, Baylor Medical College Center of Excellence and Waterford Kamhlaba preparatory school
• Young Heroes also received significant support from the producers of the highly successful Bush Fire music festival and its sponsors, who have decided to again make Young Heroes the beneficiary of this year’s festival during the first weekend of August.
As Young Heroes continues to enroll new families in its program, it is now involved in more than 60 villages throughout Swaziland.
As of the end of February 2008, the program supports 387 families with a total of 902 orphans – a 56% increase in the number of families and a 63% increase in children served. Of these, 111 families are fully sponsored for all children; and 677 orphans are sponsored directly.
At the core of Young Heroes’ mission are the sponsorship stipends that are supplied directly to orphan families. These stipends are provided by generous donors who come from all sectors and all over the world, including:
• Companies such as Acorn Massage in the United States, and the First National Bank and the Mountain Inn in Swaziland;
• Foundations such as AllPeopleBeHappy and the Hastings-Quillan Foundation;
• Rotary clubs in Canada, Swaziland, Norway and the United States;
• Schools ranging from Sifundanzi Primary in Swaziland to the Bryant School in Dubuque, Iowa and Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia;
• Organizations including the African Alliance, Friends of Swaziland and Just Be Nice;
• Committed families such as the Eisenbergs of Phoenix, Arizona; the Burnetts of Lakewood, Colorado; and the Redders of Summit, New Jersey.
“For the second year in a row, we’ve been able to raise substantially more money than the program costs to run, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors,” says Young Heroes Foundation President Steve Kallaugher. “We’re pleased that we can help so many children, but as the only organization dedicated to helping the orphans nationwide, the challenge ahead of us is huge. The orphan population is growing daily. We hope that when we enter our fourth year in a year from now, we’ll be serving double the number of children that we do today.”
For full information on Young Heroes, click here.
