Every child deserves hope, clean water, food, an education, and the ability to dream of a greater tomorrow. We seek to meet these basic necessities, by providing food, clean water, and educational needs to the invisible children of Kibera, Africa's largest slum located in Nairobi, Kenya.
Welcome to Village One. We are a start up Non-Profit organization, dedicated to helping people that are in need. Our motto is "It takes a village." Our goal is to make a difference, to breath hope and some love into the lives of unfortunate children. Our greatest objective, is to inspire good people to open their hearts and to have the courage to be apart of the solution. It is a blessing to be in a position to help. You're the missing piece to the puzzle. With you, we can do great things in the lives of children. In doing that, we will change this world one life at a time.
Today I felt my heart from from the place were it has rested all my life. Leaving the Cape Town airport I noticed to the side of the road some shacks. When exited the freeway I read a sign that said welcome to Crossroads. This was not the first township I have visited. The day before I went to one named Langa as a part of tour. We visited a small 2 bedroom apartment, 16 people lived there, no bathroom. I felt a little guilty I was a tourist stealing glimpses of a world that I would soon be leaving and these people probably would never leave this condition. When the tour was coming to a close the guide pointed out a section of Langa that she would not venture. She lived in Langa yet she would not go into this certain area. The next day, I found my way back to Langa for a better look. There they stood hundreds of shacks, no bigger than the smallest bedroom in my house. They were built of tin, wood, cardboard, plastic, rocks and whatever could be found. They had no running water, no electricity and it smelled of sewage. Some the shacks leaned with gravity defying grace, as though they might collapse at any moment. The first thing that ran through my mind was, how can people be living like this, in the richest country in Africa? Less than 8 miles from here, I witnessed beautiful beaches and mountains, with splendid homes on cliffs guarding the ocean. How could this be? I returned to my hotel a few miles away with this situation dominating my mind. The next day we need to change our airline tickets and is when we saw the other townships. What I thought was one township, turned out to be many. They had names like Crossroads, Khaylitsha, Kuwait, Nonqubela, and Nyanga. Most of them were larger and worst than what I had seen the day before. From a freeway overpass I had good view and I could see for a few miles. What I saw broke my heart. There were thousands of these shacks, as far as the eye could see. As I reached a hill or something that broke my line of sight, I hoped I had reached the end of this display of poverty. I was disappointed to find, I had not. I drove though township after township. The children I saw, surprisingly had not been beaten down by their circumstance. Their spirits and smiles shined brighter than the African sun. I wondered how long would it take, before the reality of their situation snuffs out these beacons. As returned to the freeway, my head and heart were more fractured and disjointed than before. Why? What is wrong with us? Why are all the slums, townships, ghettos that Id seen always full of black faces? How did this happen? Who is at fault? What can be done to fix this? Are they aware of how bad they are living? Could things be worst? What can I do? What can we do? Do we really care? Why has their lack of hope affected me like this? Where is God? Africa the beautiful, Africa the ugly.
**Click the donate button below (Paypal) or you can send your donations to:
Village One
PO Box 580291
Elk Grove, CA 95758
email: Donate_villageone.org
Twitter.com/thisvillage
Facebook.com/thisvillage
Tel: +1.916.572.9211
Fax: 800.351.6980
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