AMAKA GA MCKENZIE

Amaka ga McKenzie or “McKenzie’s Home” is located in Uganda, Africa. In partnership with Okoa Refuge, The Foundation built a boy’s home, a girl’s home, and an abandoned baby home to provide medical care, food, shelter, education, and love to over 157 children. The Foundation has committed $250,000 to Okoa’s “CHILD SPONSORSHIP FUND” over 5 years, ensuring that no child is turned away. Stay tuned for more exciting news as we continue to grow our partnership with Okoa Refuge. 

JOIN OKOA in their efforts by sponsoring a child at okoarefuge.org

OKOA REFUGE: ORPHAN CARE

Perhaps the most well-known project, Okoa works diligently to care for orphans and vulnerable children. Children most often come to us from the local government after having been abandoned by biological parents or after experiencing the death of one or both parents. Often times children come from dire circumstances, while other times not enough information is known to have a clue where the child originated. Once a child is accepted into Okoa’s programs, a thorough investigation is performed to determine the accurate circumstances surrounding the child’s abandonment. Often, biological relatives can be traced. After extensive education, visits from the child to the relatives and a simple resettlement package, the child usually can begin living with those relatives. The child remains sponsored by Okoa’s programs and social workers perform regular home visits, but the child is raised in his/her own family environment.

WHAT IS RESETTLEMENT?

In most cases, the best situation is for a child to be raised by his/her biological relatives in a family environment. Okoa promotes the resettlement of children by performing exhaustive investigations into the true backgrounds of the children who come under our care. Children are only resettled into healthy family environments and the relationships are closely monitored by Okoa’s social workers. Okoa offered a resettlement package to families of resettled children. Included in this package is the payment of school fees, allowance for the child to come to Okoa for holidays, medical care and supervision by Okoa staff.

WHAT IF RESETTLEMENT ISN’T POSSIBLE…

The fact remains that not every child has relatives who can be traced. In these cases, children are first made available for fostering and domestic adoption by Ugandan families. In these cases, families are investigated by the local Social Welfare Office and by Okoa’s social workers. Families wishing to foster or adopt are required to come and spend time with a child in order to create a bond before the child is then settled into their homes. Occasionally, if no one in Uganda expresses interest in fostering or adopting a child, he/she may be made available for international adoption. 

Information quoted from okoarefuge.org