War, flooding, Aids, disease, and poverty has quickly made Mozambique a nation of youth. Just over forty-four percent of the population is under the age of 15. Yoido’s Children Center began when the Kawendes started taking children into their home that had been orphaned or abandoned. Today the center is home to 40 children with plans to increase that number with up to 80 kids. As often as possible we try to reunite children with family members and have people from the village and community involved with their upkeep. Still there are many daily needs just to keep the center running with staff, food, medicine, and clothes. Your help is desperately needed in helping to care for these children. A little bit goes a long way.

Children's Center!

Meet the Kids!

The 2008 UN development report estimated that just over sixteen percent of the adult population in Mozambique is infected with HIV/Aids. Six –year old Pai understands the realities of these figures all too well. Both parents contracted the disease when Pai was very young. They have sinced passed away along with their grandfather and uncle. Pai and his older brother Fransico first came to live with at the center when their only living aunt became very ill with the virus and could no longer care for them. 

Pai

Bruno and Bentino

Bruno and Bentino came from the northern part of Mozambique just after their mother died of Aids. Their father brought the two brothers to Maputo hoping to find work but was not successful. As the health of their HIV positive father failed, the two boys resorted to stealing and begging on the streets for survival. Just days before he passed away, the father learned of the Kawendes center and brought the children to be raised here.

Renardo and Manuel

Twelve-year-old Renardo essentially runs the kitchen for all 39 of the other children. His brother Manuel is an excellent student and can pronounce nearly any English word perfectly. Judging from their deep laughs and bright smiles, you would never be able to tell the difficult background that brought them here. Other villagers describe their mother as “crazy” saying that it was the witchcraft she was involved in that brought it upon her. Both parents were heavy drinkers and spent every day wandering from bar to bar while the children remained locked up at home without food or water. It was the village chief that eventually brought them to us. Shortly after the children were established here their mother died and the father moved away without letting anyone know where he was going.