CHILDREN OF THE NATIONS

Contents

Summary

Malawi

Summary

'Children of the Nations' (COTN) exists to rescue orphaned and destitute children who are living in poverty-stricken areas of the world. Operating in Malawi, Sierra Leone, the Dominican Republic, and Uganda, COTN helps nearly 7,000 kids on a daily basis. Many of these children are victims of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and would be living on the streets without the help of COTN. COTN's goal is to care for these kids in 4 key areas - physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially.
Children of the Nations is a non-profit organization operating out of Silverdale, Washington, USA.
Children of the Nations Homepage
COTN Charity Navigator Entry
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

Malawi

COTN Malawi serves the country in a number of ways, from provision of homes to orphans, to feeding programs in the shanty towns, to the funding of primary, secondary and college educations. There are a number of programs that incorporate the students of Malawi’s African Bible College (ABC) and American volunteers to provide additional love to the children in the orphanages.
'Orphanages'
''Organization''
The COTN orphanages are structured in a fashion similar to families. Each house begins with a functional family with both parents and a number of children. The parents take the job of being a house parent and commit much of their life to raising the children. Although the house parents have an income, it is much below what they could make, as most have a college education.
To assist with the raising of the children, aunties, also called assistant parents, are hired. They assist with cooking, cleaning and minor discipline. The smaller houses (~20 children) have two aunties. The larger houses (~30 children) have three or four aunties.
''Children''
When comparing the children in the COTN orphanages to the average Malawian child, the discrepancy in nutrition and education are immediately apparent. The children in the orphanages receive three meals per day (most including nsima) and a tea time around 2 pm. Every child in the orphanages is required to go to school. Outside of school the children are tutored by the aunties or hired tutors for six hours per week.
Although AIDS is the leading cause of the orphaned children, it is not the only cause of the orphaning of the children in COTN. Some of the children lost their parents to car crashes, some were abandoned by their parents and family, and some were abused so horrifically that the mentioning of the method should be a sin. Every child taken by COTN would have died had they not been rescued by the organization.
'Feeding Programs'
A number of feeding programs have been begun. These began during the famine of 2005 and have continued due to the need. The largest feeding program is located in Lilongue and is the only meal of the day for many of the recipients.
'ABC Interns'
'American Outreach'
COTN offers programs for American university students to educate them in a way in which academic programs are unable: experience. The experience is developed through the development of relationships with students from African Bible College and the children in the homes. They seek to help the Americans understand that third world poverty is not a statistic, but an affliction for real people. For the American interns, this program places a face on poverty.