International Projects
We work across the globe with partners to ensure that people have access to health care and education.
Albania
The home in Tirana provides a loving, caring and supportive environment with personal attention given to each child. We support the home’s running costs through one off donations and monthly gifts.
The home was set up in 1994 by Tony and Liz Treasure, since 2008 Paulin Vilajeti and his wife Luli have taken on the running of the home.
We are in regular contact with Paulin and Luli and we are constantly thinking of new ways to meet the challenges of running a children’s home, which although rewarding, is very expensive.
Thanks to the faithful support of many donors, the home provides a safe environment for many children from destitute backgrounds.
Congo
The Kilibula Baptist Primary School began in October 2007 in partnership with Andy and Isobel Eyre, their Baptist church in Leeds and a small church led by Pastor Bujana in the Congo. Andy and Isobel travel to Kilibula, a remote town in the city of Uvira, DRC, regularly to maintain the relationship with the church and school.
The regular support for this project pays for children’s continuing education and covers the monthly school fees. This benefits the whole family as it releases money for other things and ultimately benefits the whole community.
The school catchment area is very poor with very few people in work, most live at a basic subsistence level. Sickness and malnutrition are everyday hazards that the people of this rural town have to deal with.
Andy and Isobel have a good relationship with the school, the children and parents. We receive regular newsletters from them and they keep us informed on the welfare of the children.
India
The New Generation Trust in Delhi provides long-term care, education, and rehabilitation for vulnerable girls rescued from abuse, trafficking, or neglect. It runs Rafa Home for Girls and offers trauma support, life-skills training, and legal aid. Through Jesiah clinics and outreach, it also delivers healthcare and education to street-connected families.
New Gen Projects
- Rafa Home for Girls
Residential home for girls who have faced abuse, trafficking, abandonment, neglect. Provides holistic support: education, medical care, legal support, trauma counselling, life skills, nutrition. - Atulya Home
Home for women (18+) rescued from sex trafficking, domestic violence, bonded labour. Focuses on healing, restoration, education, vocational training (baking, sewing, jewellery), life skills. - Jesiah
Community health project serving marginalised populations (including migrants, urban poor, those with HIV/TB).Provides primary medical care, counselling, outreach, mobile dispensary, follow-ups for TB, referrals. - Sahaitha
A community centre for women offering peer support, life skills, literacy, help with documentation, and health access. Also supports migrant children via non-formal education and tuition support. - Atulya GB Road (Drop-in centre / Outreach in brothel area)
A space in the brothel district for women in the sex trade to access counseling, food, friendship, respite. They also make outreach visits to brothels, offer medical referrals, listen and support.
Mongolia
Karuna Action supports the Jubilee Society which is a Mongolian Non-Government Organization, based in Ulaanbataar, the countries capital. Jubilee Society was founded early in 2001. Their goal is to reach out to the poorest of the poor and help improve their health, education and food security. They also assist individuals in obtaining a regular income for their families.
Karuna Action supports the child sponsorship programme where Jubilee society promote the well being of children. The students come from the sub-districts of Chingletei Bayankhoshuu and Unur. Many of the students come from families with disabled parents. In 2012 we supported the first group of students who graduated to university from this project. Jubilee society runs camps in the summer for the sponsored children. The children enjoy the fresh air, nutritious food and structured activities. It is a good opportunity for the children to spend time with their church community and build relationships.
If you would like to support a student at Jubilee Society please get in touch with us.
Zambia
Karuna Action have been partnered with Andy and Eira Patching for more than 15 years. Initially to support the care of Sarah, a disabled child who they continue to care for as a young adult with complex needs.
In 2013 Jessica and Simon visited Sachibondu with Becks Burston, Andy and Eira’s niece. It was this visit that we saw the clinic, which we decided we wanted to support, and since then Karuna Action have sent monthly support for some of the running cost of the clinic and other additional needs as and when they come up.
Sachibondu Health Centre is located in a remote and rural region of North West Zambia. Everyday hundreds of patients come to the Health Centre and amazingly, it is run by a small team of nurses and midwives who do all that they can for the patients. Clinics for under 5’s provide health checks and vaccinations against diseases. HIV + AIDS awareness, testing & education is reducing the rate of new infections.
Food nutrition classes and cookery lessons are helping families overcome malnutrition. Regular TB outreach clinics are educating and treating many. Antenatal clinics, midwives, trained birth assistants and a dedicated delivery ward are saving the lives of first time mums.
A laboratory technician is screening daily for infections including Malaria and lives are being saved. The Centre is partly funded by the Zambian government, however, further funds are required to help the nurses and midwives provide more effective care to the hundreds of men, women and children that visit the Centre daily.
The clinic is currently undergoing extensive work to be converted to a hospital. this means that many more people will be able to access much needed healthcare.
Sri Lanka
Bethshalom Boys Home
Bethshalom, meaning ‘House of Peace’, is in Gampola, run by Justin and Roshani, who have been called by God to sow into the next generation of young people in Sri Lanka. There are hundreds of children that have been orphaned or found themselves deserted by their parents as a result of the recent civil war that tore through Sri Lanka for almost 30 years.
Justin and Roshani have taken in boys from broken families and destructive backgrounds and many have been rescued by child probation services and brought to the home. The boys are now part of a safe and loving family and have the opportunity to go to school, some for the first time.
Since 2005 Justin and Roshani have cared for almost 40 boys into adulthood, some of which have returned to their families and others have gone on to work all around Sri Lanka. The past 15 years are a testament to the restorative environment at Bethshalom.
Calvary Grace Care, Jaffna
We have been partnered with Leslie and Shanthi since 1988 and have become good friends. Our partnership was one of the first sponsorship projects enabling students to go to school. Many of the students’ lives are still impacted by the civil war which ended in May 2009. Many have lost family members and their homes, being displaced for years, often to return to homes that were in ruin. This impacted their schooling hugely and left some without education for decades.
Leslie and Shanthi run a network of churches in northern Sri Lanka called Calvary Full Gospel Church which acts as the umbrella for lots of ministries in the local communities, including income generation, healthcare, and education projects. With the support of sponsors through Karuna Action, Calvary place students into local schools to give them an education and a hope for the future.
Community Concern
Karuna Action sponsors students in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, through Community Concern. They are a non-profit, Christian organisation who’s goal is to express compassion for the poor by helping the oppressed and needy. Community Concern assists the local community in the beach slums with many programs that have touched the lives of thousands of men, women and children.
The sponsorship programme helps children and their families break out of poverty, receive nutritional meals, have access to health care and basic education. These programmes have played a major role in mobilising the surrounding community. Children are given sponsors from an early age. Their health, growth, education and overall well-being are monitored. These children come from different slum areas on the island. Community Concern works with schools, government offices and community centres to find the best solutions for the children under the programme’s care.
Uganda
CES Jinja
The Child Education Support (CES) project in Jinja, Uganda, was founded by Sylvia Pinkney as part of the work of YWAM in the area. The project was set up with a desire to work with the poor communities to help them develop physically, spiritually, socially and emotionally. The project is now run by Robert Mazige and Peninnah Wamakale, who have a desire to engage with the families of the students they support. As well as education, Robert and Peninnah work with local families to encourage income generation initiatives.
Many of the students that we support through CES are at university. Sponsorship has given these students an amazing opportunity, and each year we look forward to hearing their graduation stories as they become qualified, young professionals in various vocations. In this community, the chance to go to school can mean the difference between living a life of poverty or being in a position to support your own family.
School fees in Uganda are high and it is difficult for many families to send their children to school.
Child Promotion School
We have been working with Joel since 2007 when we started sponsoring 25 children in local schools in Kampala. In 2011, we discovered Joel’s full vision was to have his own centre of excellence because many schools in the city don’t offer a good standard of education, especially if you are unable to pay.
After a challenging start, in November 2012, it all began to look possible as our appeal to raise funds for a school gained momentum. Churches and youth groups started to get on board with all sorts of people doing all sorts of things, wanting to see Joel’s vision become a reality.
In 2013, the land was purchased and building could commence, ready for the school to open in May. 250 children moved into 11 classrooms and in under a year, this number quickly expanded to 300 as the school gained popularity within its community. There are now over 500 children attending the school, being supported by under 100 sponsors and some students that are able to pay fees.
Peru
ASIS – Huanuco
Karuna Action have been working with Margarita, a professional child psychologist, for over 15 years since she was a staff member at Nino Con Esperaza (Children with Hope). When the children grew up or returned to their families, she turned her attention to social work within rural communities.
Maggy runs ASIS, which stands for Amore, Solidarity, Integration, Social and is the work she undertakes in the rural communities around Huánuco. Maggy is currently involved in 5 communities, where she works within 2 churches and in homes of families. She has been training a team of 6 leaders who work alongside her to reach out to these communities. Her vision is to change the lives of the children and families in these poor communities, along with her team of 6 leaders, by teaching the children about Christian morals and social issues, such as abuse, which is a great problem in these rural communities.
Maggy is helping the families to deal with anger, resentment and coming to terms with abuse in a healthy way through therapy. Maggy is also working in the rural schools to help with preventative measures of family violence, which is also a big issue.
Cleft Lip and Palate Operations – Moyabamba
Karuna Action supports the work of the Luke Society, an international organisation that helps local health professionals reach indigenous people and treat their medical needs. The Luke Society Clinic in Moyobamba, a rural area of the Amazon basin, perform cleft lip and palate operations for local children. This area sees a high incidence of cleft lip and palate problems and the operations are life-changing. Many of the children will also require psychological help after years of trauma and being ostracised by their communities. As well as the operations, the children will also receive speech therapy and dental care which helps them to overcome any speech problems.
The ministry was founded by Dr. Apolos Landa in the late 1980s and officially joined the Luke Society in the summer of 1989. The ministry’s focus has evolved throughout its 30 years of existence. The Luke Society began by offering curative treatments for common illnesses. However, a short time later, the ministry began a transition from curative care to preventive care. In addition to the work we support, they also offer comprehensive primary medical care aimed toward geriatric wellness, early childhood programs and wellness outreach opportunities to remote communities in the mountains of Peru.
