Kara-Balta Children's Home

On October 12, 2000, eight of our children attending Kara-Balta School, began living on the second floor of a former Soviet department store across the street from the school (first picture).  ACSCA had worked for several months on converting the building into a usable facility.  Of the eight children, four have no father and their mother is in prison; they were living in a Red Crescent Shelter and in the city hospital (second picture).  Another four are from a  large but very poor family.  To see pictures of the children in the Children's Home and read about the difficult circumstances which have brought them to us, click here.

Each week, about 3-4 children will be added to the Children's Home, according to the urgency of their needs and to make the transition more manageable for the children and for the Children's Home's child-care workers, who have been carefully chosen for their exceptional love for children, patience, and skill in handling children (third picture).  The children will be added until the number reaches 25, the current capacity of the Children's Home.  

The children selected for the Kara-Balta Children's Home come from several groups, in order of urgency of need:  1) child with no guardian, parent or otherwise; 2) child with only one parent/guardian, who is unemployed, frequently drunk, abusive, and/or negligent; and 3) child from family with only one unemployed parent/guardian who is unable to provide for and care for his/her 6 or more children.  The children's initial reaction to the Children's Home has been very positive.  Some of the children who have a parent go home for the weekends if the parent so wishes.  Their care includes education at the adjacent Kara-Balta School, and three meals a day (breakfast and lunch weekdays at school), plus evening snack.  

The Kara-Balta Children's Home marks a new step in the development of the work of New Life Ministries in Kyrgyzstan.  After running schools to serve the very poor for several years, our workers have become convinced that many of our children have basic needs  that neither the children's families nor our schools are capable of meeting.  Though none of the children presently served are without either living parent, their needs are no less than those of orphans since their parent/guardian(s) are in jail, under psychiatric care, alcoholics, drug-abusers, or otherwise unable to provide minimal parental care.

The Kara-Balta Children's Home was originally conceived by the mayor of Kara-Balta, who offered a building belonging to the city for the purpose of establishing a Children's Home.  The Department of Education of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the mayor of Kara-Balta have expressed their great admiration and appreciation for the work of ACSCA especially in regard to the Kara-Balta Children's Home.

The Kara-Balta Children's Home is in critical need of ongoing financial support to maintain the operation of its vital service to the neediest children of Kara-Balta.

How to support this and/or other ACSCA projects

ACSCA--Current Projects