The Global Orphan Project: Prevent, Protect & Prepare
KANSAS CITY, MO – The Global Orphan Project (GO) began when a successful Kansas City businessman and his wife visited an orphanage while on a short-term mission trip.
“The situation was horrific, but the people were wonderful . . . The heart of the people who were caring for these kids, who were not their own, . . . resonated with me in a way I didn’t understand.”
“The experience really touched our hearts. Once we saw the plight of these children, we just couldn’t turn our heads, we couldn’t look away. God pierced our hearts to make a difference with our life. We just surrendered our lives and said, ‘God, whatever you have in mind for us, we’re all in.’”
Those are the recollections of Mike and Linda Fox as they convey how God moved on their lives just as unexpectedly and as powerfully as He did with Moses in the desert and Paul on the Damascus Road.
That was 2004. Sixteen years later, the Global Orphan Project is actively striving not only to care for orphans in a dozen countries but also to prepare them for the transition to life outside the orphanages. Equally important is the front-end part of their ministry, which is to be aware of family situations that deteriorated to a point where a child may be destined for life as an orphan should no one intervene.
Prevention
It is widely acknowledged in the business world that no project or operational system can function effectively without a preventive action component. Even doctors and dentists promote preventive action to prevent illness and disease. The old adage is true: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
GO’s prevention plan provides culturally-relevant, family-strengthening programs that offer spiritual healing, job skills, and financial management awareness. In Haiti and Kansas City, unemployed workers are offered opportunities to work at GOEX print + apparel company. (Yes, Virginia, there is poverty in Kansas City – and across the entire United States.)
Protection
In addition to providing support for families and children trapped within dysfunctional child welfare systems, GO equips local church leaders in the DRC, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Malawi, South Sudan, Uganda, and the U.S.
Church leaders are mentored in how to find and develop local solutions for children across the entirety of the orphan-age spectrum. Special emphasis is put on providing local, family-style care that will enrich the parentless children.
Preparation
Anyone familiar with aging-out of the orphan years knows that transition from orphanage life is difficult in the best of situations. “The best of situations” may not be even close to easy in the regions where the Global Orphan Project serves.
The GO Project has established and is operating Transition Academies in Haiti and India. Similar academies are already being readied in other locations. The academies serve as life training and job-readiness schools that also assist students in finding productive, sustaining, and satisfying employment.
The GO Project Commitment
The Fox’s business backgrounds led them to create an organization in which 100% of all donations for orphan care and prevention programs “go exactly where you intended them.” GO enlisted group of committed donors who cover all administrative, overhead, and fundraising expenses so that every penny from other donors goes directly and entirely to the project for which it was given.
The lead management team includes two dedicated Christian men, one a trial lawyer and co-founder of a national labor and employment litigation firm as CEO, and the other a graduate of the Air Force Academy as president. The backgrounds and qualifications of the rest of the leadership team and board members are just as impressive.
Around the globe, staff and volunteers with the Global Orphan Project team are ready to GO.
