The work of Hope Community Action (HCA) Africa was first inspired in August 2012 as a transformational agency encouraging parents to take responsibility for nurturing their own children into Godliness and productivity. Seven years later (July 2019), the ministry was officially established.
A Review of Bishop Festo Kivengere’s book, ‘Revolutionary Love’ (1988), created a sense of urgency to help young people find the Truth, and help adults reconnect with the true God. Kivengere wrote,
“It is Christ’s revolutionary love that Africa needs to bring radically new relationships – between clans, tribes, nations, races, political parties and ideologies. It alone can cure economic exploitations, rampant corruption, unjust laws and hostility between religious denominations.”
Observing widespread leadership challenges in the 21st century creates an even deeper sense of urgency for action. With the current human corruption and excessive worldly orientation towards competition, struggle for fame or in effort to preserve self-dignity against hard work and faithfulness, we have more hope to save the children’s future by choosing the right actions now, with whoever is willing to make a difference. This cannot be possible unless God’s people make themselves available enough to freely interact and pray with other leaders without any selfish interest.
The HCA Fellowship was established in effort to address this need.
In December 2021 HCA learnt of the most hurting and neglected category of children, and redesigned its operational strategy to reach them. An estimated 85% of children identified then had no access to a regular food supply and about 50% of them were not in any form of school or education, due to the complexities of their circumstances and their extremely low socio-economic status.
HCA has identified Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), who are living in even worse conditions than children in refugee settlements. Housing is as basic as anywhere in the world, children have few if any clothes. Children are mainly in female-only-led families, and the home-head is likely to literally ‘dig for money’ as this is the only form of paid work. Digging for money involves digging other people’s land, it’s physically brutal and very low paid.
Poverty is complex and the children are victims of circumstance. They have little or no clothes by the time we reach them, deprived of education, and living in the most basic way. The children are traumatized by the multiple challenges they face.
The OVC intervention project has been established for this purpose.