Urgent appeal - toys for toddlers in prison
Please help us provide toys and supplies for babies and toddlers in Zambia who will spend Christmas in grim prison conditions with their mums.
Urgent Appeal - Toddlers in Prison in Zambia
Help us provide toys and essential supplies for babies and toddlers in Zambian prisons this Christmas
With Christmas fast approaching, it’s hard to imagine a 4-year-old who has never had a toy before, especially one who has been raised in abject prison conditions.
Would you kindly consider giving towards our Christmas appeal so we can provide toys, nappies, baby food and more to little ones who will be spending this Christmas in grim prison conditions in Zambia?
It's amazing what impact even the smallest amount can have, as money goes so far in Zambia.
If you give £25
£25 provides a care pack for a little one
Your donation will buy a pack of toys and childcare materials for a baby or toddler who will be in prison this Christmas. For many, this will be the first toy they’ve ever had.
If you give £50
£50 will fund a trip to visit older siblings
Caring for the older siblings who are not in prison is a key part of the project, most shamed and neglected because their mum is in prison. Your donation will help fund visiting a family.
If you give £100
£100 will help fund the catering at an in-prison service
When we visit the prisons, we often hold a Christian service, with worship, prayers and a message about Godly parenting, as well as a special meal for the inmates and the children. Your donation will fund the catering.
Why we work in the prisons. In Zambia, if a mum is sentenced to prison and has a 4-year old or under, she has the right to take her child with her, which is quite often her only option due to poverty or relationship breakdown. Prison conditions are poor with no dedicated childcare facilities or food.
No toys and no pre-school education in what is a child’s most formative years.
The Zambian prison authorities have given our Kids Alive team special access to the prisons, so we can provide quarterly care packs to the mums and children, including toys, baby food, nappies, hygiene products and more.
They have also allowed us to work with the Zambian Prison Chaplaincy Service to hold in-prison services with prayers, worship and teaching on Godly parenting. These have gone down really well, with many of the non-mum inmates also coming along (and the prison staff). But we need your support to continue holding in-prison church services.
Working closely with the Zambian Prison Chaplaincy Service, we are seeing amazing breakthrough with these mums (as well as the other women inmates). The prison authorities are seeing such a positive change in them that they are asking us to come back again and again.
Your support – no matter how large or small – can help us to provide toys and childcare supplies to little ones raised in prisons this Christmas. Here's what your donation can do.
Research studies have shown that pre-school education is the most formative and important part of any child’s education. This makes it all the harder to believe these babies and toddlers are raised without any toys or meaningful stimulation.
Your support – no matter how large or small – can help us to provide toys and childcare supplies to little ones raised in prisons this Christmas. When they do receive them, their faces are full of joy and fascination. An incredible treat and surprise, as we found when we recently gave away some toys in a prison in Kabwe, just north of the capital, Lusaka.
Your support will also help us care for the older siblings who are not in prison, like Agness and Moses. When Alice was sent to prison for assaulting one of her children, she had to take her 3-year old with her. As a single parent, this left her 7 and 9-year-old children (Agness and Moses) very vulnerable, with no one to care for them.
Fortunately, Alice’s impoverished sister offered to help, but she too didn’t have the means to do this properly. Thanks to supporters like you, our team were able to offer support and mentoring to Alice’s sister and her husband, as well as Agness and Moses. In particular, trauma care, as the children get to grips to life without their mum around, not to mention the shame they have experienced with her being in prison.
This photo shows some of our team visiting them.
Thank you for your kindness and compassion.
"I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25: 36-40
Postal address: Kids Alive International, PO Box 1529, Stamford, PE2 2YD.
Registered address: Kids Alive International, 12 Greenhill Rents, London, EC1M 6BN
Telephone: 07873 550968 | Registered Charity: 1140641 (England & Wales)
Updating page...