ACTS works among the most vulnerable people in one of the poorest countries* in the world—Burkina Faso. Village widows and orphans are the forgotten ones. They have no voice and no means of support. They are considered outcasts due to the fear of AIDS. 

Widows have no opportunity for education and therefore have no hope of gaining the skills necessary to support a family. 

Orphans find that relatives are reluctant to take them in because they are already struggling to care for their own children or they are afraid of the stigma of AIDS.

In order to survive orphans become victims of prostitution or live on the streets. Diseases such as malaria, meningitis and polio kill many children already weakened by malnutrition.

With no financial means, no education, no healthcare and no one to help, widows and orphans are hopelessly caught in a cycle of poverty, sickness and ignorance.

ACTS provides a way out for widows and orphans through programs designed to make broken people whole.

 

 

* UN Human Development Index (HDI) ranks Burkina Faso 173 out of 179 countries

February-March 2009

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