News - Our Courageous Kids

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on December 10, 2018 Leave a Comment

Christmas in Kenya 2018

Christmas came early to Kenya this year as Our Courageous Kids staff traveled to see your donations come to life!

Here are some of the highlights:

We shared a Thanksgiving meal with the children and staff that we helped to cook—adding a few American favorites of ours to the menu—green bean casserole and apple pie. The children wanted French Fries, or as they call them chips (something they only eat on special occasions) so we included this too. It was a great day of celebration.

We also hosted a Christmas party with stockings and toys for 40 children.

Each child received a “sock” with their name on it filled with candy, a rare treat for kids who don’t always get individualized attention or sweets.

Groups kids also received gifts that they can enjoy together. For example the toddler house was so excited about playing on their new scooter.

And, a group of the young adults were so thrilled about being given a travel gym bag, a first for them– a gift that reminds them that they have places to go and a bright future.

Another highlight included taking a group of the older children, many of whom are high school students on a retreat.

Here’s the reason why this trip was so important: if you are in institutionalized care one of the challenges is that you often leave the physical location of where you are. Though the children’s home is a place of refuge and family, it can often feel like a place you’re “stuck” if you never leave. Opportunities to travel outside the center mean everything for how hope can be infused back into daily life.

Over the weekend, we introduced the students to the American tradition of campfires and s’mores (a big hit!) and also enjoyed songs, games and storytelling.

Our Courageous Kids loved these three days of being together, laughing together and getting to hear more of these students’ dreams for the future.

We want to be ready to support their higher education plans when the time comes.

Additionally, as many of you know, Our Courageous Kids is so happy that 2018 is the year we sent our first student to college, Rahab with the assurance that we’d be supporting her tuition.

Though, Rahab was abandoned at birth and has spent her entire life at a children’s home in Kenya, she’s now living and studying in London enrolled in Brunel University. Through many challenges, she has persisted in life with much success in her Children, Youth and International Development Master’s Program.

On our way home from Kenya, we were able to stop over in London, visit Rahab and tour her campus. One thing that impressed us the most about the time spent with her was her maturity.

She’s so thankful for this gift of education and she’s taking advantage of every chance to meet new friends, learn from her professors and apply for internships which will help her get her first paying job.

She’s even taking advantage of a free Spanish class on campus and loving it!

The coat she’s wearing in this photo is her first winter coat she’s ever owned (bought for her by a supporter in London, thank you) and Rahab is looking forward to her first experience of snow.

We couldn’t be prouder of her accomplishments and all of our kids this holiday season!

And so thankful for all the support that friends like you are offering our children. Blessings to you.

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on October 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

Everybody Can Do Something

Everybody can do something.

But, it’s easy to think that your contributions, your talents, your money or your time isn’t important enough.

Or somebody can do a task better than you.

And then shrink back doing nothing at all especially when it comes to the biggest problems in the world like orphan care.

Yet, I’m a strong believer that everybody can do something, as I’ve thought much about lately.

Maybe it’s because I have the preschool show, Daniel Tiger often on the brain thanks to my 2-year-old daughter. Daniel Tiger, a Mister Rogers spin-off encourages kindness, responsibility and service to preschoolers. Daniel Tiger says that no matter how little a person thinks they are– everybody can do something.

So to encourage you that everybody can do something, I want to introduce you to Rev. Mindy.

Rev. Mindy is a colleague that I’ve met through clergy networks online. She’s an American, but currently serves as minister of several Methodist congregations outside of London, where she lives with her husband and children.

Thanks to our online connection, Rev. Mindy read about the work I was doing with Our Courageous Kids with interest.

Several months later, she reached out to me after I shared about the project of sending Rahab to graduate school in the UK saying that she was not in a position at this time to financially support her education but that she and her family would be glad to be a resource to Rahab when she arrived.

Wonderful, right?

I was delighted because this is what I most know-

No person ever outgrows the need for family.

Students who are reaching for their dreams, studying in far away places and especially those who may not have an intact biological family to go home to after graduation. They especially need to experience life in family.

So, since arriving in London, Rahab and Rev. Mindy’s family have been able to get together several times for shared conversation over meals. Rahab shared stories about life in Kenya with Rev. Mindy’s kids.

I couldn’t have been happier to receive photos like this.

It did my organizing mama heart good to know that Rahab is getting an experience of family and support– the kind of experience that could only come from someone who lives close by. There are plans in the works for meals together in the future.

Thank you so much, Rev. Mindy and family for getting to know one of our courageous kids.

Likewise, in your own unique way, I’d love for you to be a part of the new movement in orphan care called Our Courageous Kids.

For example-

Do you have women’s groups, school groups or church groups that you’d love us to come and speak to? Share that info that with us here.

Do you have skills in event planning, social media or marketing that you’d like to offer? Be in touch here.

Do you have a social media account that you could share this story with today? Do so now.

Do you think your congregation could host an Orphan Sunday this fall or sometime in the future? If so, read more here.

Do you think you could financially support the spring tuition payment for the competition of Rahab’s degree program? If so, donate here.

Or maybe you have an idea to support our work that we haven’t even thought of yet. Share that with us now.

Looking forward to hearing from you, friends.

Everybody can do something.

Especially you!

-Elizabeth

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on October 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

Orphan Sunday

Did you know that globally there are over 150 million orphans?

Sunday, November 11th is the day that churches around the world are asked to consider our calling to support, adopt or do whatever we can to encourage kids who are a part of the foster care or orphan care institutions around the world.

Today I want to tell you why I’m so passionate about this cause.

My story of connection to orphan care began in 2012 when my husband, Kevin became President of Feed the Children. Over the course of three years, my life within this organization became immersed in the stories of children caught in cycles of poverty and abuse. Kevin has a different job now. But, the children we met, the need we saw and the bonds we forged with kids living in orphanages remained a big part of our lives. I wanted to keep doing more.

I’m a communal person so of course my next step was to try to find other like-minded churches, pastors, leaders, anyone really that were engaged in orphan care. In my search, I encountered dead-end after dead-end.

While I found hundreds of more conservative churches and groups with elaborate conferences, ministries and networks solely focused on orphan, foster care and adoption, in my own tradition– the progressive Christian camp, there were few resources.

When I investigated all of this evangelical interest in orphan care, I found some of it stemmed from a true humanitarian desire to be good neighbors, to love as Jesus asked them to do—but some said adoption/ foster was a practice meant for Christian church because it helped to save souls alone (without concern for the whole child!). Gasp.

And when I asked my progressive Christian friends why more congregations weren’t talking about orphan care, I got a lot of “I’m not sure?” responses.

I knew I wanted to be a part of the change I longed to see in the world and to bring this message to the churches I knew and those I served.

So this is what I want to most tell you today: the work of orphan care needs us. We can’t be silent anymore. There is so much unmet need.

Foster children.

Would be adopted children.

Kids living in international orphanages need us to know their stories, connect with their stories and share our family life with them.

This is why I started Our Courageous Kids in 2015– this foundation with the mission of helping more orphaned children be able to go to college, high school or share in other life enrichment experiences.

Orphan Care can be an overwhelming calling, I know. 150 million children feels like a huge number.

But, I believe one easy way to plant the seeds of such in your congregation would be to observe Orphan Sunday. We can all do something for ONE child.

Orphan Sunday is always on the second Sunday of November and a national emphasis sponsored by the Christian Alliance of Orphans geared toward helping churches remember the calling of James 1:27 which says, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress.”

If you observe it, it’s a great day to share statistics about the need for foster parents in your community.

It’s a great day to have folks who have adopted domestically or internationally share stories about this faith journey in their lives.

It’s a great day to speak to God’s heart for the vulnerable children in the children’s time or in the sermon.

If you would like more information about planning your own Orphan Sunday this year, you can read more here or feel free to contact me.

We’ll be marking the occasion at the church I led, The Palisades Community Church in Washington, DC and invite your faith community to do the same!

The vulnerable children of our nation and around the world need more champions. We can be those people! I believe in what we can do together. I really do.

Elizabeth

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on August 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

Meet Our New Board Member: Chris Thomas

We’re so excited to introduce you today to our newest board member, Rev. Chris Thomas. Chris joins the Our Courageous Kids board replacing Veronica Marshall, one of our founding board members.

We are thankful for Veronica’s two years of service to the Our Courageous Kids team, but are so excited to welcome Chris for this moment in our history.

Chris currently serves as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Williams, AL. He brings to the team a wealth of knowledge about what it means to run a non-profit organization as well as personal connection to orphan care.

We asked Chris to introduce himself the Our Courageous Kid Family and this is what he offered.

Tell us more about your family.

My wife (Sallie) and I have two adopted sons, both from China. Orphan care and adoption have always been matters which were important to us, but after bringing home our first son, they became deeply personal priorities and convictions.

What’s your professional background?

I have served as a pastor for the last twelve years. I received my undergraduate degree from Samford University and a Masters in Divinity from Truett Seminary at Baylor University and am currently working on a doctorate in ministry at the McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, GA.

What made you excited to join the Our Courageous Kid Team?

As someone who has been in the adoption/orphan care world now for over five years, I have witnessed a great lack of progressive and distinctly Christian voices when it comes to orphan care. Our Courageous Kids is not only doing wonderful, unique, and needed work for some of the most overlooked children in our world, but this organization has at its core the convictions of Jesus’s teachings that do not view orphan care as an evangelistic opportunity, but as a vital part of caring for our sisters and brothers of all ages, races, and creeds around the world.

He recently shared more about his adoption journey over at Elizabeth Hagan’s blog.

Chris would love to hear from supporters of Our Courageous Kids. What makes you excited about this new movement in orphan care? Send him an email and let him know you’re glad he’s now part of the movement.

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on August 7, 2018 Leave a Comment

Three Cheers for Rahab! A Summer Update

What has Our Courageous Kids been up to this year so far?

We’re so excited to tell you that: in April, we traveled to Honduras to visit the boys that Our Courageous Kids champions at Casa del Nino in La Ceiba.

This spring break trip included spending time with 25 boys who are full-time residents of this children’s center.

Thanks to you, our donors, we were able to take the boys out to their favorite restaurant, Pizza Hut and visit a local park with a swimming pool as way to encourage their academic performance in school.

We also participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new recreation room for the boys—a place they can go after school to have fun in a structured environment. They were so excited and couldn’t wait to go inside and start playing!

As we were leaving, I couldn’t help but be moved by one of the speeches of gratitude by Jose, only 10 years old who said: “Thank you for not forgetting me. Thank you for giving me hope to keep studying hard in school.”

This, my friends, is one reason why Our Courageous Kids exists: so that kids growing up in institutions know they aren’t alone. They have family around the world cheering them on!

Additionally, as many of you know: one of our big goals for this year is to support the dreams of Rahab, a student we’ve had a long-standing relationship with in Nairobi, Kenya. Rahab was abandoned at birth and has spent her entire life at a children’s home. Through many challenges, she has persisted in life with much success.

I have this great news to share: Rahab recently graduated from Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi and was accepted to a master’s program at Brunel University in the United Kingdom!

Rahab is pursuing a degree in Children, Youth and International Development with the hopes of encouraging other children who grew up as she did. Our Courageous Kids foundation has pledged support for her studies, so that come this fall, Rahab’s dreams can come true!

UPDATE: We are needing one sponsor to agree to pay for her air fare to and from school which we estimate will be around $1600 US. If this is you– if you can pay part of, or half of these costs or the full amount, send Elizabeth an email.

But our plans do not stop with supporting Rahab. There are hundreds of kids like her that we’ve met in our travels that need champions. They need a family, an organization or a church to believe in their dreams.

As you champion the children in your life this summer, I’d love for you to consider including Our Courageous Kids in your financial giving so that we can champion even more kids in our future.

Donations are kindly received online at www.ourcourageouskids.org or by check to OurCourageous Kids at the address above. Thanks, as always for being our friend in this important work.

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on December 27, 2017 Leave a Comment

How We’re Empowering Our Courageous Kids

2017 has been a wonderful year with Our Courageous Kids and it’s not over yet . . .

Thanks to our donors and partnering organizations like churches we’ve been able to support these end of year projects.

Casa del Nino Honduras

Casa del Nino is a residential center for boys between the ages of 6-17 living in La Ceiba, Honduras. When Our Courageous Kids asked Casa del Nino what would help them thrive in the New Year they asked for us to support their Christmas festivities. On Thursday, December 14th the boys along with their caregivers celebrated Christmas in style.

Each child at the center received a Christmas present (something that would not happen without Our Courageous Kids’ support). The children laughed, danced and played with games and was able to enjoy an extra special treat: pizza!

Hekima Place in Kenya

Hekima Place is a residential center for over 60 girls from infancy to late teens in Kiserian, Kenya. Most of the girls at Hekima Place have been orphaned by HIV/ AIDS. When Our Courageous Kids asked Hekima Place what they would like to thrive in the New Year they said continued support for their counseling program.

Many of the girls comes to Hekima after experiencing abuse or trauma. They need a safe place to share their experiences and work through their feelings of loss.

You might remember that this project is one we helped to start last year and Jenny Roach, Kenyan director reports that “the small group sessions this year have been really positive and productive.” This is great news! And so we were thrilled to help this progress continue.

The girls of Hekima send their end of year greetings to you!

Dagoretti Children’s Home in Kenya

Our Courageous Kids asked Feed the Children Kenya– a residential facility for 100 + children, many of whom have special needs– what would help them thrive in the New Year.

The answer was some recreational equipment for some of their young men with special needs. These guys find themselves in a situation where they’re unable to work for pay and spend much of their time indoors at home. To have some outdoor furniture, we learned would be a hope-filled gift to begin to see their community with fresh eyes. When told about their gifts, these young men and their caregivers wanted Our Courageous Kids donors to hear a resounding “thank you!”

But this is not all!

One of our goals for 2017 centered upon building up our scholarship fund because in 2018, we’d like to award our first grant for education. We’ve recently accepted a grant application for a student we’ve met through one of our partnering organization in Kenya. She wants to attend graduate school in social work and hopes to begin her studies in a couple of months. So time is of the essence.

As you’re considering where to make an end of year 2017 contribution, Our Courageous Kids would be glad to be one of your charities of choice. We’d be glad to receive your donation online.

Or by mail Our Courageous Kids · PO Box 41054 · Arlington, VA 22204

We can’t wait to share more with you about what amazing things your support does next!

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on September 15, 2017 Leave a Comment

Meet Our Partner: Hekima Place

Our Courageous Kids discovered Hekima Place over a year ago, while Elizabeth was vetting future partners for Our Courageous Kids. Already, there were two very special centers that Our Courageous Kids knew we wanted to support in Kenya and Honduras but the work needed to expand.

When Elizabeth first drove up to Hekima in April of 2016 to make a personal visit to this center she’d heard so much about from her conversations with its founder, Kate Fletcher, she was impressed right away.

Elizabeth doesn’t use the word “impressed” lightly.

For several years, Elizabeth and her husband traveled the world as he led a large global non-profit dedicated to ending child hunger worldwide. During that time, they both visited many children’s centers, including orphanages throughout Kenya. On these visits, they often worried about the well-being of the children they met. Caregivers didn’t seem to be trained. The children’s rooms felt unclean or dark with no light or windows. The grounds felt over grown and lacking safe places for the kids to play. Visits like this put tears in your eyes and make you feel like you want to take a couple of kids home in your suitcase (if it was only that easy!).

Children deserve better like the kids who study in this Kenyan center below.

Because here’s the fact: to run a home where children eat, sleep, study and dream about their future is serious work. You can’t engage in it without careful attention to details. Children who’ve lost one or both parents or have faced life circumstances where their relative caregivers can’t look after them properly deserve THE best.

Our Courageous Kids wanted to support THE best, places where donors could be proud to send their support knowing that the resources of the home were properly managed and children were thriving!

Hekima Place is one of those centers. It’s a home for girls where details about their daily surroundings matter. And where girls are going on to great educational achievements even as many of their parents have died because of HIV.

As Elizabeth began to meet caregivers and the girls, she could tell right away the quality of its staff, facilities, and programs.

The buildings where the girls sleep are well constructed.

The caregivers beamed with pride in their training.

The girl’s clothes and shoes are clean– not just because someone is doing everything for them– but because they are learning valuable life skills to take care of their own bodies and belongings.

Elizabeth especially loved meeting Rafiki, the center dog as she watched the girls do the their homework and play games. During lunch with several of the high school aged girls on her first visit, Elizabeth was impressed to hear them share more about their big dreams for the future. Some of the girls want to be artists. Some want to be lawyers. Some of dream of being accountants. The table felt like a place where the girls felt comfortable to be themselves and study hard afterwards.

Our Courageous Kids was glad to become a partner of Hekima Place in 2016 with a grant for the counseling program, which helps create physical and emotional space for the girls to process their grief and loss. And we look forward to how we can champion their efforts in the future.

We believe this work is critical to ending the cycle of poverty in places like Kenya, and we are proud to be a supporting partner of Hekima Place.

Thank you to our donors, for making partnerships like this so sweet. And as always, we’re glad to receive your further support through an online or in the mail donation by clicking here.

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on August 30, 2017 Leave a Comment

Meet Our Team

Any good work is only as good as the team behind them.

Our Courageous Kids is thankful for the board of directors that surrounds this mission of helping orphans thrive. Each of these individuals bring unique business, organizational and spiritual strengths to this work. Today I wanted to introduce to them and publically say thank you to them for their engagement. We’re so glad they’re on our team.

Corey Gordon

Corey brings to Our Courageous Kids more than 25 years of marketing and fundraising experience building and growing organizations. Corey has held executive roles in both the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors, having had a successful career in banking before shifting to the nonprofit realm. He is a board member of CAFO, the Christian Alliance of Orphans and a former orphan himself. You can listen to more of Corey’s story on this podcast.

Jayme Cloninger

Jayme brings to Our Courageous Kids a passion for advocating for children in need. She’s currently the Vice President and Director of Strategic Partnerships at Merchant McIntrye in Washington, DC. Jayme is also a student at Georgetown University pursuing her MBA.

Bhavik Patel, Esq., Secretary

Bhavik brings to Our Courageous Kids over 15 years of law experience as family law and contract/ civil negotiation attorney in Fairfax, VA as a member of the MacDowell Law Group. He’s a member of the Virginia Bar Association.

Veronica Marshall, Treasurer

Veronica brings to Our Courageous Kids over 25 years of executive leadership experience from the government sector. She’s currently the Director of Executive Resources at NASA after a 10 year stint at with US Postal Service in Employee development.

These folks have joined our board because they believe children should have big dreams, especially those growing up in children’s homes.

To those children dreaming of becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers and social workers . . .

To those children dreaming of growing up to be married, be mothers and fathers with a healthy sense of belonging . . .

To those children dreaming of becoming contributing citizens in their countries. . .

These folks want to champion them.

Won’t you join our movement? Read more here.

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on June 18, 2017 Leave a Comment

Honoring Our Courageous Kids on Father’s Day

Who will you be celebrating this Father’s Day?

Kids all over the country will be waking up their dads with special cards, gifts and coupons to “take it easy for the afternoon.”

Wives will be cooking their husbands special lunches or taking dad out to eat.

And so many of us will be making calls to our fathers to simply say, “I celebrate you.”

But, today, what about those kids who grow up without knowing who their dad is?

What about those kids who grow up in international orphanages because their parents are deceased? Or are unable to care for them?

Who will they celebrate today?

In many children’s homes, the model of care is based on “family groups” or “host parents.”

Kids will be housed in cottages either based on age, gender or special needs and are assigned to a house mom or dad that will serve as their surrogate parents. Sometimes kids will follow the same host mom or dad for their whole lives. Other times, they’ll get re-grouped ever couple of years. If you visit a children’s home, you’ll often hear women referred to as “Mom ____” and men called “Daddy___”

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit two of Our Courageous Kids’ partner children’s homes in Kenya. I also had the chance to visit with several house moms and dads.

One of the most special parts of the trip included taking 8 teenage and college aged kids who’d grown up in an orphanage in Kenya on a 3 day retreat. Several staff from the center joined us. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know them better too!

Over the course of the weekend as staff, kids and volunteers from Our Courageous Kids alike, we played games together, ate together, took hikes together and shared sessions with one another about what it means to transition out of residential care as a young adult.

One of the big take-aways from the weekend was how much the staff members love the children in their care. Even if they are not biologically theirs, there’s still so much love and positive energy directed toward their future. They have big hopes for their future!

One of the dads that works with the teenage boys shared with me:

“I wants my boys to always know how loved they are and have all the resources they need for their future, especially college.”

And isn’t this what every dad hopes for their sons and daughters?

This is where Our Courageous Kids comes in. We want to give Dads who mentor kids at these centers hope, hope to know that there’s more parents out there cheering their kids on too! That’s where you come in . . .

Specifically, we want you to help us create funds for education so that youth as seen in this picture (and countless others) can know they their studies will be taken care of no matter what they choose to do.

Most all we want the kids to believe this: that just because they grow up in a children’s home, it doesn’t mean that they will be forgotten when they age out of their institutions (usually around age 18).

I’d love you to join me in this effort in honor of your loved ones this father’s day TODAY or this week. Make a gift today to honor the dads in these kids lives. Make a gift to champion a young adult’s college education fund. Join our family circle. Be an honorary dad to a kid in Kenya or Honduras.

Check out our donate page by clicking here!

Happy Father’s Day to all!

-Elizabeth Hagan

by Elizabeth Evans Hagan on March 1, 2017 Leave a Comment

Boys, Pizza and a Pond: Honduras February 2017

On the weekend of February 18-20th, Kevin and I had the opportunity to visit Casa del Nino in La Ceiba. It’s one of the three centers that Our Courageous Kids donors support. If you missed our post on Christmas projects, read about it here.

Thanks to you, a group of 35 boys and their caregivers were able to have a very special dinner out (a rarity) at their favorite restaurant: Pizza Hut.

While at the meal, we all put together glow stick necklaces and bracelets. Though we speak little Spanish and they speak little English, there still were laughs and smiles all around!

Boys in Honduras love pizza parties as much as I remember my students enjoying them back when I taught elementary school right out of college. It’s a treat they’ll wait all year for! Pizza, though seemingly a small thing, can speak volumes of encouragement!

Later, the next day, you, supporters paid for an enrichment activity for the boys. These are so important because there’s not a lot of change in the routine when you live in an institutional setting. On a normal day, the boys go to school, the eat, they play outside, they study. Then, they go to bed. The cycle just continues on.

But enrichment activities help the boys have open minds and hearts to something new.They help them appreciate the culture and environment in which they live. And most importantly, these activities remind the boys that they are loved and seen by families outside their caregivers.

So, together we all loaded up and went to a recreation center for a day of playing soccer, swimming in a pond and a nice lunch. The boys got to choose between chicken, fish or pork freshly grilled. A real treat to get to pick out the exact meal that they wanted. After lunch they couldn’t wait to get back to swimming (as you could tell from this picture– some of the boys just couldn’t wait to hit the water i.e. why are you making us pose?)

Beyond the fun activities we participated in together, Kevin and I had conversations with the staff of Casa del Nino about their needs and how Our Courageous Kids can continue to give them resources they need in the future.

Here’s one new project on our list. A boy who we’ll call Juan has grown up at Casa del Nino. Though he’s aged out of the programs (over 18), he is busily completing his high school education. He continues to stay in touch with Casa del Nino because this center is his family. His caregivers say he has great potential for success. And I believe it too. Juan’s got a warm smile and a kind heart to always include his younger brothers. He wants them to study hard in school too.

Next fall he would like to apply to law school. In Honduras, law school is an enrollment program at a 4-year university (not an graduate level in the US). Completion of law school means he can go on to have a well-paying job. He could take care of a family of his own one day.

And get this- law school in Honduras is around $3,000 a year. This is all! Can you believe it?

This is something we can do. We can empower Juan’s bravery by helping him with his college tuition.

Would you like to help sponsor Juan? Would love to chat with you more if you’re interested.

All in all, it was a great trip to SEE the kids and SEE the work that is yet to be done. I can’t wait till Christmas time when we’ll travel to Casa del Nino again.