Restoring Lost Dreams for Child Headed Households

Do you ever wonder how our Child Headed Households are doing? 

We are excited to share what a blessing it has become to offer the opportunity of our Vocational Training to kids who had to stop going to school to take care of their families! 

At the Passion Center, our ministries are designed to interact and support one another, creating a sustainable system that uplifts the most vulnerable members of our community.

An exciting example of this is the connection between our Child Headed Households (CHH) Ministry and our Vocational Training Center. Through these programs working together, we are seeing God’s restoration at work.

How Vocational Training is Making a Difference for Child Headed Households

Our CHH Ministry was created to support children who have lost their parents and have no surviving relatives able to care for them. These children, some as young as 7 or 8, are forced to become caregivers, providers, and protectors for their younger siblings. This deprives them of their childhood and the opportunity to go to school.

The ministry works to identify and look after child headed households by providing what a parent typically would: protection, food, shelter, education, and the emotional and spiritual care they so desperately need.

Now that our Vocational Training Center has been up and running for over a year, some beautiful stories are unfolding as two cohorts have now graduated, and a new one has begun.

Initiative and Innovation

This new cohort of Carpentry students came up with a brilliant way to use their new skills to solve the problem of not having a place to rest or eat during breaks:

They decided to make themselves some benches!

It’s wonderful to see how beautifully the benches are turning out—and how excited the students are to showcase their new skills. We are looking forward to seeing the final product and seeing them get to enjoy the results of their hard work.

Overcoming Anger

A key way our Vocational Training has wrapped support around our students is through morning devotions and bible study.

Stanley is a Passion Center Kid who has just finished the tailoring course. He has benefited a lot from the Bible studies that the ministry team leads at Mulunguzi.

He testifies, “Before I began attending these Bible studies, I used to be short tempered, but now the Word of God has completely transformed me and I am able to control my anger.”

More Success Stories

Our Child Headed Household beneficiaries were all smiles in December last year after being encouraged to work hard in the skills they were learning from their Vocational Training. It was so exciting to see smiles on their faces each time we visited!

Mwandida signed off from the CHH program after completing a training in tailoring and received a sewing machine to help her earn money to sustain herself and her 3 siblings.

Lonjezo, another one of our talented CHH kids, is putting the theory she’s learned from our tailoring program into practice by sewing a school uniform.

Chitsanzo was part of the 2nd cohort, successfully completing the training in Carpentry and Joinery. We are checking up on how he is doing as he awaits apprenticeships. 

Meet Some of Our Newest CHH Students

The vocational school's new cohort has begun—Zione and Calista have joined the tailoring class. 

Here is Matias and his bricklaying instructor in action during practical lessons. Despite only training for a few weeks, he has already become an outstanding student.

“Am excited to see what I can achieve with my hard work and determination.” - Zione

Fund the Future for Child Headed Households

If you are excited to see more stories of hope unfold through the Vocational Training Center, we invite you to join us!

Your monthly partnership funds two cycles of training a year, lunches for the students, plus all the tools they’ll need. You can sponsor one full day of training each month for $65.

We still have days that are unsponsored and would love for more Vocational Training Partners to join us in supporting these students! With enough sponsors contributing this amount for each day every month, the program will be sustainable year-round.

Sponsor 1 Day a Month

*Under Purpose, select Vocational Training Partner