Reporting 94% unemployment or under employment, and one of highest rates of HIV, Zambia is one of the most impoverished and destitute nations in the world. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that one out of every four children is an orphan. Millions are left to suffer the terrible consequences of neglect and abuse with little hope of protection or intervention. Local communities who are already burdened with devastated economies are struggling to meet the needs of this exploding orphan population.

These children have few options for survival and many turn to crime or prostitution. Those who are able to acquire skills have few options to sell their products. Without the economic infrastructure for Zambians to support themselves they are left in a cycle of poverty nearly impossible to break.

Mr. Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa said,

There has to be an Herculean effort made for these kids so we don't lose them. Otherwise, you reap the whirlwind.... You have a society where kids haven't been to school and therefore can't fulfill even basic jobs ... a society where a large proportion can have anti-social instincts because their lives will have been so hard. You have a generation of children who will be more vulnerable to exploitation and to disease because they won't have the same sense of self-worth.

We believe all children should be raised and cared for in loving homes by their parents or other family members. We also believe those who desperately seek any opportunity for honest, hard work to provide for themselves and their families should have that ability. The sad reality is there are many children and individuals who do not enjoy this basic right, because of illness, disaster, conflict or the spiraling cycle of poverty.