Action for Children Zambia: We are bringing children living on the streets of Zambia back into a family life within their community. "My name is Brother Robert and I have been with the Salesian order in Zambia for nearly a decade. Five years ago, I met a missionary, Carol McBrady, who started and runs a program called "Action for Children Zambia” (AFCZ) for kids who live on the streets of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. A social worker who came to Zambia on a mission trip 20 years ago, Mama Carol, as she’s known to the abandoned kids she rescues, returned home to Minnesota selling all she owned and returning to Zambia full time. From the first time I visited one of the 3 modest homes she set up for her kids with nowhere to go, I recognized her work as something very real and very good, offering hope and a future to children who may not have survived without her. Her goals for the 60 children now in her care are either to place them with a biological family member or turn her group into the loving family every child desires. Mama Carol centers her work around God and the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Her diocese in Maple Lake, Minnesota sponsors her children’s most basic food, housing and education needs, but this greatly appreciated help is not enough. She lives VERY simply devoting herself fully to the needs of her children. Unable to afford to rent the place near the Salesians where I was living when I first met her, finances led her 60 miles away. Mama Carol has asked the Salesians to help out in 2 of her homes that have limited personnel and resources but one home is 35 miles away and the other 50 miles from our Salesian order. When we visit, the children are always open to games, prayers, catechism and most of all weekly mass, a priority for Mama Carol. But transportation remains the biggest issue and Mama Carol has only 1 used car and 1 truck for the farming she does. We Salesians don't have anything to contribute to her mission and we would like to raise the funds to buy her a much-needed used car that would cost $12-13,000, though we know she would manage with less. This crowdfunding campaign is specifically to raise funds to buy a used car that would allow us Salesians to help Mama Carol on weekends, also offering her the use of the car on weekdays. I would be greatly honored to permanently work with Mama Carol who has committed the rest of her life to offering the poorest children a chance for a better life. Helping and supporting Mama Carol’s mission has been my goal since the first time I met her and any assistance offered would be totally appreciated and of enormous value to the children she has chosen to serve."
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