Hands at Work in Africa (Canada) Society

Hands at Work in Africa identifies African Christian leaders demonstrating a passion to serve the poorest of the poor. We support those leaders in developing a community-owned organisation that unites local churches and mobilises congregation members, and we begin a long-term partnership of serving those organisations and working to increase their ability to provide effective, holistic care to the vulnerable: physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual.

In this model, orphaned children are kept within family-unit groups headed by a local caregiver (a grandmother, an aunt, or an elder sibling) within the community, where they receive the psycho-social care that family and community provide. The community-based organisations then support these families through community Care Points and teams of trained local Care Workers who visit the children in their homes.

As the local church is mobilised in each African community to unite and reach out, they are equipped to provide holistic support to the most vulnerable children and families in their community, including access to food, education and basic health care. This approach utilises the community’s existing resources, and forms the basis of a partnership between the local community and outside supporters in caring for the most vulnerable.