JNN Foundation’s initiative is to support destitute children and disadvantaged women in Africa, addressing the causes of hunger and poverty. Though collaborative efforts with local organizations, JNN Foundation is dedicated to building and supporting orphanages, schools and self-sustaining projects that will transform lives and make dreams come true.

Where you’re born should not determine your future…

Child Poverty

When families become entrapped in the cycle of poverty, it is very difficult to climb out. Poverty is the single greatest cause of hunger. An estimated 1 billion children live in poverty today, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF. The number of people living in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa grew from 217 million in 1987 to more than 300 million in 1998.
Many parents cannot adequately care for their children anymore because they lack the financial means and material support. Often a family’s poverty can lead to child abandonment and placement in alternative care.

In some African countries, children under 18 make up a third to a half of the workforce in similar gold mines across the continent, according to the United Nations International Labor Organization. Small-scale gold mines in Africa attract children from impoverished families because of the quick cash that day-mining brings in. A dearth of other job opportunities compels needy children to take whatever work is available.

While we debate the health care crisis in the states and fight the insurance companies who raise prices due to drug cost, and drug companies who rise prices due to insurance cost we should consider that less than 50% of Africa’s population has access to hospitals or doctors. Even less than that has the means to purchase the necessary drugs for even the most common illnesses.

Children suffer more than anyone in Africa. One in six African children will die before the age of five. Only 57% of African children are enrolled in primary education, and only one in three will complete school. The children account for HALF of all civilian casualties in war. The facts are grim, and the future appears to be dark, but if we choose to, we can illuminate the situation with kindness. There are signs of progress because of humanitarian aid distribution programs, and improved partnerships between African and donor nations. On all fronts, regardless of national origin, we as humanity need to save our children. They are the real losers, and unless we leave them a future, they will not have one. JNN Foundation is committed to help the needs of orphaned and abandoned children, work with local communities to support, strengthen and stabilize families as much as possible.

Homelessness

When we think about people who are experiencing homelessness, we usually think about adults. The fact is millions of children experience homelessness every year. These children sleep in cars, shelters and abandoned buildings. They relocate constantly, which results in their being pulled out of school and away from friends. Every child deserves to live and grow in a safe, secure environment.

Homelessness is fundamentally a symptom of poverty. Individuals and families without adequate incomes and social supports sufficient to satisfy basic needs may indeed find themselves without a regular place to stay. Though unemployment has fallen to a national low, recent studies indicate that the fastest growing jobs, primarily in the service sector, pay below even modest calculations of the cost of living. Related studies show that the strong economy has merely widened the gap between the very rich and the very poor, with the latter actually earning less than they did 20 years ago in many localities. Forced to make impossible choices between housing, food, clothing, medical care and transportation, many working individuals and families frequently find themselves with nowhere to turn but shelters and the streets.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.

Empowering Women

The $1.25 per person per day threshold for extreme poverty is a standard adopted by the World Bank and other international organizations to reflect the minimum consumption and income level needed to meet a person’s basic needs. That means that people who fall under that poverty line—that’s 1/6 of the world’s population, or 1.4 billion people—lack the ability to fulfill basic needs, whether it means eating only one bowl of rice a day or forgoing health care when it’s needed most.

JNN Foundation wants to participant and create opportunities that can break the vicious cycle of poverty, empowering the poorest to achieve a sustainable level of economic stability. Consider the challenges the extreme poor typically face in their daily lives:

• They struggle to find the means to eat three meals a day.
• They live in isolated, rural villages, typically with populations of no more than 200-500 people, in areas lacking decent roads and safe transportation to towns and cities.
• They often have to migrate for 3-6 months every year, hundreds of miles away from their families to work as day laborers in sub-human conditions to survive what is called the “hungry season.”
• They typically live in regions that are geographically unstable and endure drought, hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters annually, conditions that erode or damage crops, drain resources, and make food, water and basic necessities harder to come by.
• 95% live in homes with dirt floors and roofs that fail to keep out the rain and other elements; homes often lack basic sanitary latrines.
• Many of their communities lack basic services such as public education and health care.

Through partnerships with local organizations, JNN Foundation plans to mobilize services that will bring access to health services, basic sanitation and nutrition training, literacy training, legal rights training and legal registration of their groups so they can apply for grants or open bank accounts. Participants potentially start sustainable livelihoods: diversifying income sources to reduce vulnerability, strengthening their income generating capacity, building social capital to be more pro-active in accessing goods and services, and building their assets in goods and savings to strengthen their security and independence.