SAVING ORPHANS THROUGH HEALTHCARE AND OUTREACH INC

SOHO has developed Care Points where preschool aged children (up to seven years of age) can be given a head start with their education. Less than 30 percent of children complete High School, and with the disadvantage of food insecurity and lack of access to schooling, orphans have little hope of getting out of the cycle of poverty and abuse. Hope Discovery Learning Center in the Manzini Region has been developed as a model program where children receive a meal upon a arrival in the morning as well as a hot lunch. They are taught both English and Siswati literacy and are exposed to the rudiments of learning through programs that are interactive and interesting. The preschool education prepares them to succeed when they enter the public school system as Primary School students. Additionally, the fact is important that children without birth certificates are not admissible in school until they acquire identification documents and that is often complex and time consuming. HDLC is a welcome bridge that provides learning opportunity regardless of status. Care Points provide a safe environment for children who are vulnerable to abuse when they are not at school. Girls are most often victimized. This is particularly significant in one of the most derelict areas where SOHO feeds 150 children daily a hot meal. Many rely on this as their only meal for the day. Forty percent of the children from this area are bused to Hope Discovery Learning Center daily where they benefit from education at the pre-school.

A critical area of emphasis near the inner city is Marekamp Care Point where the largest number of children are fed at one time. This community has many child-headed households and caregivers who engage the children in unsuitable activities such as making and drinking home brewed alcohol. This area known as the Squatter's Camp is violent and unsafe, but services provided by SOHO are opening doors of opportunity for ministering to the children who live there and in the surrounding areas. The Outreach Program Coordinators are Nathi and Amanda Dlamini, a young Swazi clergy man and his wife. They visit the homes and provide emotional support for the children, especially those parented by teen girls. Life Skills are also a focus area. Children who typically manifest the violence to which they are exposed, are taught interpersonal skills through sports. They are also taught woodworking and the items created are sold and the funds provided for their benefit. The community is often served by invited volunteers who bring mental health services and other health related skills to the children and their caregivers. Many teens especially benefit from these services. A scout- like Pathfinder Club is being developed to prove yet another avenue for the children to learn discipline and other valuable behavioral skills. Hope Discovery Learning Center also provides training in handicrafts so that young mothers and girls from the community can develop marketable skills to aid them in their struggle against poverty. The crafts are sold at various outlets and the funds used to support the participants who, often without this assistance, become victims of abuse.