Lola Children's Fund

If you would like to make a financial gift please click on the donate button below.

Lola Children’s Fund’s mission is to raise money to provide housing, medical and educational services for HIV-affected orphans and local children in Ethiopia. We have 501(c)(3) status through our fiscal agent, Russell Cooperative Preschool, and are in the process of applying for our own nonprofit status.

Ethiopia has nearly 5.5 million orphans, with more than 800,000 orphaned by AIDS. About 80,000 Ethiopian children are infected with HIV. In 2010, 14,000 kids were infected and 3,500 died. More than 20,000 children need anti-retroviral medications to survive.

The Fund serves the children at Lola Children’s Home in Mekele, in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Lola was founded because Mekele had no services available for HIV-positive orphans, many of whom are left without family or government support after their parents’ deaths. Many children live on the streets, receiving no food, shelter, education or medicine to help them combat the disease.

Support a mother on Mother's Day!

We are pleased to announce the creation of a new program for families at Lola Children’s Home. We are starting a grant program for mothers of the children in the day care.

When I was in Mekele in February, I met the mother of some children in our programs. She was living in a one-room mud hut, with a single twin-size bed for her, her 13-year-old son and her 11-year-old daughter. She is unable to find work, and as such, is unable to pay the rent on the house. The rent on her house is $20 a month. Because she needs more assistance, her son is now selling gum and cigarettes on the streets of Mekele at night after school.

At Lola, we believe that families should stay together. Our goal is not to divide families or take children from their parents. It is to keep children with their mothers and fathers and siblings and grandparents. Unfortunately, it is very hard for mothers to support their families when they are suffering from HIV. Stigma prevents them from being hired, and the whole family suffers.

At present, we have six children in the day care, which means we have six mothers who need assistance. $250 would provide enough capital for one mother to start her own business and support her for six months while she learns the ropes. She would be able to work, which would boost her confidence, and also help her to feed her family and pay the rent. It would also allow her to keep her children with her, instead of having to send them to Lola full time. After six months, she will be able to run her business and care for her family.

For Mother’s Day, we’d like to ask that you consider funding a mother’s grant. You can buy part of a grant for $25 (or multiples of $25), or a whole one for $250. In return, we will mail or email you (or the mother of your choice) a card with the photo of the mother being funded and her story.

To contribute,

If you wish to participate in our new Mother's grant scheme, please click on the button below.

Mother's Grant

Thank you!

You can contribute $25 for a share of one grant, or $250 for a whole one. Or, you can contribute multiples of $25 if you’d like.

If you contribute, we will email you the photo and story of the mother you’re sponsoring with the grant.

$25 could change a family’s future. Please help.