How we change their journey
our work
Since 2006 we’ve been assisting some of the world’s most vulnerable children, helping to bring hope and opportunity back into their lives. Our goal is to help those who have no one else and, with over 130 million orphans globally, the work of finding the most in need is a challenging one. Children who have been abandoned, abused, have lost both parents or live a life on the streets are the focal point of our efforts.
With no one in the world to care for them I AM SOMEONE is truly reaching out to those who need support the most. By bringing love and support back into their lives, it’s not long before we see big smiles of joy returning to their faces.
the children
The future stars
The very first step in our work is to ensure we find those who literally have no one in the world to care for them.
I AM SOMEONE never removes a child from a loving environment and intervenes only when circumstances are so dire that the individuals’ suffering cannot be ignored. Children we help into our Children’s Villages are those we find in desperate situations, who need to be removed from physical and emotional abuse, abandonment and neglect or who simply have no one to turn to.
We fully support the UN’s mandate to close orphanages and see residential care as a last resort. Of 8 million children living in orphanages globally, it is reported that 80% have someone to care for them so the boom of fake orphanages is something we strongly condemn. The work of I AM SOMEONE is concerned with the 1.6 million who desperately need committed support. We hold fears that when forced closures take place, too many children will find themselves back in desperately precarious situations. Our challenge as an organisation is to be there to support those who fall through the cracks.
I AM SOMEONE works with local communities, village elders, teachers, government and other local organisations to identify the most vulnerable cases. Our Child Vulnerability Index analyses each individual thoroughly in order to assess and identify whom to help. Successful reintegration of the children is always our end goal, as we support them through childhood and set them up with the skills and qualifications for independent living.
local connections
empowering communities
education
building a bright future
We believe education is the strongest tool with which to tackle poverty. With millions of children excluded from this basic human right, we aim to provide access to educational opportunities to those cut off through hardship. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, one out five children will never attend school, with only two out of five completing primary school. Beyond primary school, only one in four children enrols in secondary school.
I AM SOMEONE believes that the opportunity to learn is a fundamental and basic human right. Tackling this issue forms an integral part of our work. So far, almost 10,000 children have found their way back into classrooms through the 13 primary and secondary schools we have established. Many of our schools offer free or very low-cost access to education, providing those who have never sat in a classroom or, through poverty, had been forced to drop out, the chance to learn.
Secondary education is a crucial step and something we set as a minimum for our children to complete. Beyond our own schools, we find pathways into tertiary education for a large number of our teen-aged children in vocational courses, colleges and universities.
A HOME
children's villages
I AM SOMEONE recognises that residential care around the world rightly receives criticism. We are the first to want to see ‘fake orphanages’ and those set up as money-making schemes to be closed down. Of the 8 million children in care, it is suggested that 80% of them do not need to be there. Our support and focus is for the 20% who have no one. 1.6 million lonely individuals who cannot be overlooked.
Our Children’s Villages are designed to offer a place where vulnerable and marginalised children can begin to build a family again. Working hand in hand with local communities, we design a micro village within a village, offering a fun, care-filled environment in which our kids can grow.
The Children’s Villages are run by local qualified social workers and with “Home Mothers” who, having lost children/families of their own, find family again through their work. Our Villages offer housing, schooling, water, sanitation and training facilities, whilst also acting as sites for the development of farms, gardens, bread ovens and other income-generating projects to help our work take steps towards self-sustainability.
health & nutrition
nutrition & medical care
The children we help often arrive malnourished and with untreated medical conditions. They’ve been used to a life without the basics, like soap, toothpaste and toilet paper and managed to survive on less than a meal a day. Our programs address all of those needs, beginning with three nutritious meals per day.
All the children undergo medical screenings and receive comprehensive medical support with any illnesses or conditions they may suffer. Mosquito nets, clean water, toilets and showers are all life changing extras that our projects provide.
HELP US reach out to another child today
By educating a child, we not only help an indivudal but families, communities and generations to come.
