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Aged Out Program

Haiti

Samuel is one of the oldest boys at the orphanage in Haiti. When we met him, he was leaving the teen years behind, yet he had no marketable skill to help him make it on his own.

In 2020, we asked you to help set up an auto shop in Haiti. With so many older boys like Samuel getting ready to age out, we wanted to give them a chance to learn a skill that could be used to create a better future. You made that happen by helping to build the auto shop.

The auto shop is doing great! Samuel was the first one to work through the apprentice program. He has learned quickly and completed the 18 month program in only 12 months.

Samuel is now able to work on any of the cars or motor bikes coming into the shop, and he has moved from being an apprentice to being an employee. He is making a regular income and has been learning how to budget, spending a portion on courses to finish up high school as well as pay for his room at the orphanage.

In just one year, because of your compassion and generosity, he has gone from being an older boy with no direction, afraid to move beyond the orphanage, to becoming a young man with a job, finishing up his schooling, and paying his own way. Not only that, soon he will get to be a mentor for one of the younger boys at the orphanage.

The auto shop is fulfilling our hopes of becoming a place for these boys to learn life skills that will help them have a better future. Being one of the only auto shops in the area, there is plenty of business, and it has earned an excellent reputation in the community. 

As the boys move into the final months of their apprenticeship, they are given a small stipend to start to learn budgeting. Once they successfully complete the program, they are offered a job and have the option of paying rent to live in transitional rooms at the orphanage or find their own place in the community. With budgeting help, they can use their pay to finish high school and create even more opportunities for their future. As long as they are working and contributing to the greater good of the orphanage, they are welcome to stay on a few more years as they transition into young adulthood.

So what is Samuel thankful for? He says, “I pray to God and thank Him for sending people who could make this happen.”

YOU are those people. You are the hands and feet of Jesus taking the gospel and His love to orphaned and vulnerable children around the world!
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Kenya

Prior to New Horizons for Children donors building the Zion Technical School in Kenya, most children in the area were out of options to continue their education. Grades and poverty keep many from completing high school which leads to not having the means to support themselves. The future did not hold much hope.  

Now, the aged out children of Mutomo have the chance to write a new chapter to their story. Once the program is completed, there is a meaningful way to help support themselves and their families. 

In the bush of Kenya, there are few opportunities for students after elementary school. If the students’ grades aren’t high enough, and they have little money, high school is out of reach. The only trade school is many hours away and expensive. There are no Christian schools in the region as the area is predominantly Muslim. 

But now, because of NHFC donors, Mutomo has a trade school, giving both local students and orphaned children an opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus while they learn a trade. The girls start off each day with devotions and prayer before jumping into their lessons.

Roda and five other students, half from the community and half aging out orphans, were enrolled in this first class to learn sewing skills from a local teacher added to Zion’s staff. They practice sewing patterns on brown paper since fabric is too expensive for beginning sewing. They learn to sew skirts and blouses. Each Saturday, students are allowed to bring in their own clothes to use the school machines to make repairs or alterations. 

The small amount of tuition from the local students helps sustain the program for the children aging out of Zion. But not only that, the other children at Zion are benefitting, too.

The students who do well and advance quickly are able to work on sewing required school uniforms for the younger children at Zion. Previously, they could only be purchased in a village much further away and were quite costly. As the girls’ skills progress, and as fabric and thread can be purchased, they are starting to sew them for the children at Zion. 

As NHFC plans for the future, we want to help expand the trade school in Kenya to include a second technical program, as well as building a small store in the local village for the aged out kids to sell vegetables (extra from the garden), water from the well, and items made at the trade school.