Bread and Water for Africa® celebrates rural women, World Food Day and poverty eradication through agricultural training and support in Sierra Leone and Malawi.
For families across rural Sierra Leone, farming is far more than a livelihood. It is the foundation of daily life — putting food on the table, generating household income, paying school fees, and offering families hope for a more secure future. Yet for many...
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) reported in its 2026 Global Outlook mid-year update in June that food “needs remain highly concerning” around the world as 266 million people across food-crisis countries continue to face acute food insecurity. That...
Discover why education is vital to Africa’s future and how Bread and Water for Africa® helps children overcome barriers to learning.
At Bread and Water for Africa®, we are passionately committed to agriculture and food self-sufficiency. Each year, we empower smallholder farmers in Sierra Leone and beyond, helping to cultivate hope and sustainability for their families. In 2026, 75 rural women and...
For millions of children in Chad, education remains a distant dream rather than a guaranteed right. Poverty, gender inequality, limited educational resources and a shortage of adequately trained teachers prevent far too many young people, especially girls, from...
For years, decades, actually, Bread and Water for Africa® has been working to provide an education for thousands of orphaned, abandoned, and disadvantaged children and youth in sub-Saharan Africa whose fondest wish is to attend school where they would learn to read...
More than a decade ago, and every year since then, thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, we have been able to ensure that hundreds of children and youth in the impoverished sub-Saharan African country of the Republic of Chad have the opportunity to...
Sub-Saharan Africa, where Bread and Water for Africa® works in 11 countries in partnership with 21 community organizations, is known for its majestic wildlife and scenery, but tragically it can also be deadly. For example, more than one million people (primarily...
At Watoto Wa Africa Orphanage, children thrive with the essential care and support they need to unlock their full potential and achieve greatness in life. Among the specific objectives of providing adequate food, shelter, clothing, and daily care for 125...
At Bread and Water for Africa®, we firmly believe that every child deserves the opportunity for education, which is a crucial stepping stone to a brighter future, regardless of where they live. We are excited to partner with local grassroots organizations like Shinga...
In sub-Saharan Africa, learning poverty, defined as the share of children unable to read and understand age-appropriate text by age 10, is estimated at 89 percent by the World Bank, UNESCO, and other organizations. “Zimbabwe, as many other African countries, is facing...
Malawi is one of the poorest countries not just in sub-Saharan Africa, but in the world. Its population of over 21 million lives on an average of $1.77 per day. And tragically, health conditions are so bad in the country’s rural villages that the only source of...
In 2025, Bread and Water for Africa® provided support for healthcare programs at 70 medical facilities and mobile clinic operations in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, and Sierra Leone, serving more than 114,000 individuals – many infants...
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) says confirmed Ebola cases in the country have reached 1,307 and include 377 deaths, Al Jazeera reported on June 30, 2026. And the World Health Organization’s African Region reports: “The Democratic Republic of the...
When Dave Frank started working at Christian Relief Services, he did not know he would be working for 30+ years. That journey began in the summer of 1995 when Dave was offered a job by a friend who operated a carpet business in partnership with Christian Relief...
Ethiopia, in poverty, is no longer a distant concern. After years of improvement, the country is now experiencing a severe reversal that threatens millions of lives. Recent findings from the World Bank show that Ethiopia’s poverty rate is projected to reach 43% in...
For vulnerable children and rural families across Africa, self-sustainability is more than a goal — it is a pathway to better nutrition, stronger livelihoods, and lasting hope. Through Bread and Water for Africa®’s support, partners in Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe,...
At Bread and Water for Africa®, our primary mission is to empower our community partners to create meaningful projects that not only address immediate needs but also establish sustainable practices for the future. We work closely with local grassroots organizations to...
What began as an urgent appeal in January has become a life-changing reality for 5,780 men, women, and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thanks to the generosity of Bread and Water for Africa® supporters, six new wells have been completed in some of...
At Bread and Water for Africa®, our mission centers on the comprehensive care and support of the most at-risk children, including those who have lost their parents, been abandoned, neglected, or abused. This commitment is not only integral to our organizational ethos...
This week, in recognition of Mother’s Day, May 10, we at Bread and Water for Africa® are paying tribute to our “Mothers of Africa” – Phyllis Keino, Angela Miyanda, Margaret Makambira and our newest, Rosemary Kirutu, who are giving of themselves so selflessly to...
At the Kabwata Orphanage in Lusaka, Zambia, there are 106 orphaned and abandoned children and youth (62 girls and 44 boys) living there who call it home, for many, their first “real” home. With grant support from Bread and Water for Africa®, Kabwata provides “holistic...
At Bread and Water for Africa®, we are dedicated to enhancing healthcare in remote villages by providing essential mobile health services. Many of these communities face significant challenges due to their geographical isolation and the pervasive poverty that limits...
In 2021, Bread and Water for Africa® began a partnership with the Our Aim Foundation (OAF) to construct seven boreholes (deep water wells) in rural villages in Malawi. Today, those wells are providing clean, safe water to approximately 1,500 individuals. Following...
Tuesday, April 7, is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Health Day, celebrated annually to draw attention to a specific health topic of concern to people worldwide and to mark the anniversary of WHO's founding in 1948. On World Health Day 2026, WHO aims to...
For many families, poverty in Malawi is not just a number on a report, but the lived reality of struggling each day to secure the basics of life. A mother may walk miles to collect unsafe water. Children often go to bed hungry after spending the day helping in fields...
In February, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that “cholera cases in the Southern Africa region have risen by over seven times in the first six weeks of 2026 compared with the same period the year before due to severe flooding triggered by cyclones,...
In 2025, Bread and Water for Africa® provided grant funding to our partner in Uganda, Bega Kwa Bega (BKB-Shoulder to Shoulder), to protect 15 spring water sites, which today serve 1,438 households and benefit a total of 7,190 individuals. In addition, these...
“In the heart of Bumpe Ngao Chiefdom in Bo District, Southern Sierra Leone, access to safe and reliable drinking water remains one of the most urgent and painful daily struggles.” So says Joseph Kobba, program director of our in-country partner, Rural Youth...
Years before there was a United Nations’ World Water Day — held on March 22 every year since 1993 — Bread and Water for Africa® was working to provide clean water to thousands of people living in sub-Saharan African countries. In fact, as it was in the first year of...
Last summer, thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, a total of 153 individuals in Malawi, including 71 women, 31 men, 25 elders, 15 girls, and 11 boys, were trained in a type of conservation agriculture known as Farming God’s Way (FGW). “In this...
Five years ago, we partnered with the Faith Healing Development Organization (FHDO) in Sierra Leone, and together, we’ve been empowering smallholders to boost their harvests and build thriving small businesses each year. It’s rewarding to see such positive change in...
In Sierra Leone, “Farming is the main source of sustenance and income for the rural people… and it is at subsistence level,” says Pastor Francis A.B Rogers, district coordinator for our in-country partner Faith Healing Development Organization, which operates an...
Access to healthcare is a fundamental human right. Yet across sub-Saharan Africa, countless families still face life-threatening barriers to even the most basic medical services. For more than 40 years, Bread and Water for Africa® has been committed to changing this...
Sub-Saharan Africa's healthcare system faces several significant challenges. These include insufficient funding and resources, a severe shortage of healthcare workers, inadequate infrastructure, and high out-of-pocket costs for patients. As a result, many people have...
The Bread and Water for Africa® food self-sustainability program empowers households in sub-Saharan Africa through sustainable farming by providing seeds and essential tools. This support also enables families to sell surplus produce in local markets, thus...
“Clean water is a lifeline. With ongoing cholera and mpox epidemics in eastern DRC, children and families need safe water now more than ever to protect themselves and prevent a deeper health crisis,” stated Jean Francois Basse, UNICEF's acting Representative in...
The Bread and Water for Africa® WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) program supports clean water development projects in sub-Saharan Africa to access life’s most vital resources, establishes school latrine facilities to promote reliable sanitation, and teaches basic...
Christmas time at the children’s homes and orphanages supported by Bread and Water for Africa® in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe is a joyous time for all the children and youth living there, thanks in no small part to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®. And...
Hospitals in Ethiopia, while differing from those in the United States, have a significant impact on their communities by providing essential healthcare services. These facilities are crucial for delivering lifesaving medications and care to impoverished farmers and...
In 1990, about half of the population in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and two-thirds in East Asia and the Pacific were living in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. However, in the three decades that followed, these three regions have followed quite...
In 2024, Sub-Saharan Africa was home to just 16% of the world’s population but accounted for 67% of all people living in extreme poverty (World Bank). These numbers show the depth of the crisis and why conversations about development, health, and opportunity on the...
In 2019, Bread and Water for Africa® announced the development and implementation of a School Meal program in partnership with the Seed Foundation’s Seed School located in the Kenyan slum of Kibera on the outskirts of Nairobi to provide two nutritious, filling meals...
When Angela Miyanda witnessed the devastation in her country of Zambia in the 1980s caused by the AIDS epidemic, she knew she could not just stand by as hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of the country’s children were suddenly orphaned, and infants born every...
This Christmas, 300 children and youth (141 girls and 159 boys) attending the Seed School in the Nairobi slum of Kibera have a special reason to be joyful – thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, one year of free education and a daily meal of...
November 19 is World Toilet Day, an official United Nations (UN) international observance day to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis, with the UN noting, “In a changing world, o“ Ending the Silent Crisis: Bread and Water for Africa® Brings Sanitation...
In Zimbabwe, agriculture remains a cornerstone of the country’s economy, contributing about 17 percent to its GDP, and supporting more than 60 percent of its population of more than 16.6 million, which is roughly 9.96 million individuals. However, increasing climate...
Tanzania faces a significant orphan crisis, with an estimated one million children and youth living without one or both parents, according to the Tanzania National Census in 2022, a number that has likely only risen in the past three years, primarily due to factors...
I recently learned that in the United States, the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for a family of four is expected to exceed $100 this year. That’s in comparison to less than 15 cents per meal for a child living in an orphanage or children’s home supported...
Thursday, October 16, is the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) World Food Day, which for 2025 is calling for global collaboration in creating a peaceful, sustainable, prosperous, and food-secure future. “By working together, across governments,...
In July, Bread and Water for Africa® announced our intention to provide clean water for drinking, cooking, and washing not only to the orphaned and abandoned children and youth living at the Carilino Orphanage in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),...
Right now, children are barely surviving against incredibly harsh conditions all across Africa in countries like Ethiopia, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and in refugee camps in Kenya. These children simply need the basic necessities of life like...
Poverty in Kenya remains a persistent challenge in 2025, affecting millions of people despite notable gains in the national economy. While Kenya has experienced steady growth over the past decade, many families and communities continue to face daily hardships, from...
Maria is a 15-year-old girl in Zimbabwe whose life was marked by trauma at a young age. “At just 14,” reported Rumbidzai Chadamoyo, a social worker at the Shinga Development Trust in Mutare, “she was being physically and emotionally abused by her biological mother....
On this International Literacy Day, Bread and Water for Africa® celebrates the power of literacy and the dignity of learning. With every school desk delivered, we are not just furnishing classrooms—we are unlocking opportunity, hope, and brighter futures for Africa’s...
Out of the 190 countries around the globe, in 2024 the Republic of Chad ranked #13 based on “Purchasing Power Parity” (PPP) which compensates for differences in living costs and rates of inflation which better assess an individual’s buying power in any given country...
Bread and Water for Africa® first began working with Bega kwa Bega (BkB - Shoulder to Shoulder in Kiswahili) in Uganda in 2020 to construct concrete barriers around fresh water spring sites, which are necessary to prevent animal and human contamination to protect the...
For the past several years, thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® we have been able to provide grant funding to our partner, the Shinga Development Trust in Mutare, Zimbabwe, to ensure that approximately 80 orphaned and destitute children are able to...
Since 1997, Bread and Water for Africa ® has spearheaded initiatives to enhance Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) standards in ten African nations. Bread and Water for Africa® multifaceted approach includes the construction of new wells, the rehabilitation of...
In Malawi, malaria is endemic in more than 95 percent of the country and is responsible for approximately seven million cases annually and more than one-third of all outpatient visits across all ages. In one of the poorest countries in the world, where its population...
In the hospitals and health clinics in Sierra Leone supported by Bread and Water for Africa® there is a significant need to replace mattresses that are deteriorating due to years of use. Clean, comfortable, and supportive mattresses are essential for patient...
Education is a lifeline for millions across Africa. It creates opportunity, improves health and income, and helps communities grow - especially in places facing deep poverty. Yet sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of educational exclusion in the world. One in...
Across Africa, millions of young lives hang in the balance as families struggle to find enough nutritious food. According to a 2024 UNICEF report, nearly one in three children under age five in Eastern and Southern Africa (30%) and West and Central Africa (32%) live...
The Carilino Orphanage, located in the Mont-Ngafula commune of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and operated by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bergamo, takes in orphaned and vulnerable children, providing them with a safe and...
Last September, we reported on the great need for the rehabilitation of the Kagbaima Health Center in Sierra Leone, where thousands live on an income of less than $1 a day, and a $10 medical bill would equal two weeks’ pay. The Kagbaima Health Center, the only medical...
Imagine “sharing a scoop hole” with hundreds of fellow villagers as your only water source. Such was the case in nearly a dozen Zambia villages until this spring when thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® we were able to step in and fund the drilling...
“In 2025, an estimated 7.6 million people, including 3.5 million children, will require urgent humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe due to the El Niño-induced drought, a food and nutrition crisis, floods and public health emergencies.” * We at Bread and Water for...
In 1998, the organization that would become Bread and Water for Africa® awarded a grant of $5,000 to the Kabwata Transit Centre (later the Kabwata Orphanage and Transit Centre) in Lusaka, Zambia, upon the request of its founder, Angela Miyanda, who had formed a...
Earlier this year, the World Bank released its Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) which shows that “acute hunger has grown in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year… around 295 million people are now facing high levels of acute food insecurity.” The GRFC provides...
In Mwanza, Tanzania, just a couple of years ago the Watoto Wa Africa (WWA – Children of Africa) orphanage which then housed nearly 100 orphaned and abandoned children and youth was on the verge of being forced to close by the government due to its financial...
This Mother’s Day we at Bread and Water for Africa® remain committed to doing all we can to ensure that thousands of expecting women in sub-Saharan African countries, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone, have the opportunity to have the best possible...
While malaria is rare in the United States with roughly 2,000 confirmed cases reported annually, such is not the case in sub-Saharan Africa where in 2023 there were 246 million cases and 569,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Friday, April...
While many organizations that help orphans in Africa work to address critical issues like clean water, healthcare, poverty, and education, millions of children remain highly vulnerable. When there is so much to do, it can seem like a long-enduring uphill battle. We...
This year, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Health Day, April 7, will kick off “a year-long campaign on maternal and newborn health through its campaign “Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures” to urge governments and the health community to ramp up efforts to...
In January, we announced that Bread and Water for Africa® would be partnering this year with Technologies Appropriées pour le Congo (TAC Asbl) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to operate a mobile medical clinic program to serve the most at-risk...
In the heart of Mchinji, Malawi, lies Levison Village, a small community that had long struggled with access to clean water where for generations, the villagers had to rely on contaminated water sources, leading to frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases and...
For nearly his whole life, 40-year-old Denis Kiyaga, of Namagoma Village in Uganda, risked his life every time he took a drink of water from unsafe water sources in his community. But that was before Bread and Water for Africa® stepped up to protect the village’s...
As it was in the first year of the now 39-year history of Bread and Water for Africa® … CLEAN WATER CONTINUES TO BE A MAJOR EMPHASIS OF OUR WORK. It started with digging deep wells to bring water to villages without access to clean water in sub-Saharan African...
“When small farmers are able to produce more while preserving the land’s fertility for future generations, they can improve their families’ nutrition and become self-sufficient for the long term.” So stated the Gates Foundation in 2011 upon U.S. philanthropist Bill...
Access to basic healthcare is something many of us take for granted. But for countless families across Africa, especially in remote villages, it remains an ongoing struggle. The healthcare initiatives of Bread and Water for Africa® strives to change that reality....
The overall objective of the Rural Youth Development Organization – Sierra Leone’s (RYDO-SL) Farmers Training and Capacity Building Project, supported by Bread and Water for Africa®, (BWA) is to improve the farming and business skills of participants in the areas of...
“Today’s youth are tomorrow’s family farmers, and maintaining interest in farming as a profession is vital to future food security.” So says Joseph Kobba, program director for our partner Rural Youth Development Organization – Sierra Leone (RYDO-SL), our in-country...
In December 2023, Alex Steven Bango, a pastor and chairman of the Faithful Heart Foundation (FHF) in Malawi, reached out to Bread and Water for Africa® for assistance in constructing desperately-need toilet facilities (latrines) at the Konzere Primary School for...
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, is endowed with exceptional natural resources, including minerals such as cobalt and copper, hydropower potential, significant arable land, immense biodiversity, and the world’s...
With a new year upon us, all of us at Bread and Water for Africa® want to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters across the United States and around the world who are enabling us to fulfill our mission to help tens of thousands of children, mothers and...
At Bread and Water for Africa®, nothing fills our hearts with joy more than seeing the smiling faces of orphaned, abandoned and other vulnerable children in sub-Saharan Africa who have found loving homes where, thanks to our supporters, they are sheltered and fed,...
In 2024, Bread and Water for Africa® was able to provide support to a total of 485 orphaned, abandoned and destitute children and youth under 18 in four sub-Saharan African countries either living in orphanages and children’s homes, or through an outreach foster care...
In Uganda, nearly one-third of the population of more than 48 million (16 million individuals) lack access to clean water. In addition, around one-third of children live in households that are described as moderately water-deprived, with 20 percent being “severely...
In 1983, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was first discovered in Belgium, according to a report published by the United States National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest medical library. “However, the epidemic was recognized much later in most parts of...
Working with the Our AIM Foundation (OAF), over the past few years Bread and Water for Africa® have teamed up to improve the lives of tens of thousands of Malawians through our healthcare and clean water and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) programs. Bread and...
At the Masanduko Primary School, located in Masanduko Village in the Chikwawa District, Malawi, there are 499 girls, 496 boys and several staff members who are unable to use the school’s latrines which are severely damaged and very dangerous for use. Because of the...
For many impoverished children living in the Kenya slum of Nairobi known as Kibera, they are faced with an impossible choice – whether to take the opportunity to attend school, or to spend their days begging for shillings so they can eat. They understand that...
There are many dedicated educators in Sierra Leone seeking to provide students with the best opportunity for their students to learn in their classrooms, but often as the students are striving to pay attention to the lesson, they are stymied by the fact they are...
In Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe right now there are hundreds of orphaned and abandoned children who have a warm bed to sleep in at night, are receiving three meals a day and are attending school without fear of being turned away due to a lack of ability to pay...
In 2019, Bread and Water for Africa® began a five-year initiative to ensure that students at the Seed School in the Kenyan slum of Kibera, located on the outskirts of Nairobi, receive meals every school day. Kibera is the largest slum in Kenya and one of the largest...
Today, October 16, is World Food Day, commemorating the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945, with this year’s theme of “Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future.” “Around 733 million people are facing...
In Uganda, “poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as unequal access to safe drinking water, make thousands of children very sick and at risk of death.” So says UNICEF, noting that WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) “are essential for life and health, but they are...
In rural Malawi, 37 percent of households – more than one-third of the population – lack access to improved drinking water sources and toilet facilities resulting in poor sanitation and hygiene which are “major contributors to the burden of disease and child...
According to the Gates Foundation, nearly 500,000 lives could be saved by 2040 if low- and middle-income countries adopted Multiple Micronutrient Supplements, the world's most complete prenatal vitamins. "So now we're trying to make sure every pregnant woman in...