1. Counselling and training young people, teaching life skills, and preparing for integration into society and its responsibilities:

• Life skills training for independence
• Character building
• Social and family integration
• Help with homework
• Cooking, shopping, banking
• Personal hygiene
• Private counselling
• Group sessions dealing with social issues
• Job placement
• Help in finding housing after the girls leave the orphanage at age 18
• Bible lessons, church attendance, and involvement with church families.

Teenage girls leave the orphanage without many skills and are very vulnerable.  By providing help and trainig for them we have seen many girls find employment and become productive members of the community.

2. Abandonment prevention and family reintegration:

• Financial assistance and counselling to enable families to keep their children at home.
• Counselling and related social work to reintegrate abandoned children back into their family.
• Foster care for the abandoned child until the family is ready to have their child at home.

Because poverty and unemployment the problem of child abandonment continues.  Although Romania has made great strides in providing child welfare there are still many hurting children that need our help.

The Kits 4 Kids (K4K) Christmas project is a joint effort by CRWRC, The Bible League, Canadian Reformed World RElief, and ROF.  Together we strive to bring a ray of light, hope, and expose hurting and impoverished families and orphaned children to Christ's love.

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We are happy to report that the work of the Romanian Orphans fund (ROF) is going well. The LORD has blessed our efforts. Our ministry joined the Romanian Child Care (RCC) and Dorcas Romania. The work has expanded significantly and better facilities were rented.

We want to thank all the diaconates, on behalf of the Romanian children, for scheduling offerings which are making this ministry possible. The need in Romania is still great, the problem of child abandonment is continuing because of poverty. Some families can not keep their children because they have no means of taking care of them.

Generally, the society sees children living in institutions as bad. People seem to forget that it is not the children’s fault that they live in institutions. It is especially the girls who are often exploited and easily become involved in prostitution. These children never experience much love and they do not have any basic life-skill training. 

Since our last report the work has made a long lasting difference for over 80 children.  We were able to help 30 children so that they could continue to stay with their biological families. 10 children were reunited with their own family and we were able to arrange a foster home for 5 additional children.

The counseling/life skills training program for the teenaged girls involved 24 high school girls.
The focus of this program is to teach basic hygiene abilities, adequate language, healthy relationships, computer training, cooking, washing, sewing and Christian ethical and moral norms and values.
Counseling takes place in small groups as well as on a one to one basis. 80% of these girls have no idea about their families. They have never experienced the love of a family and a mother/daughter relationship to guide them in growing up.

The girls also participate in church activities and visit with church families. All of them have significantly improved their school marks. 10 girls have graduated from the program and 4 found employment and housing.

Last Christmas over 4200 gift parcels were distributed to orphans and to very poor rural families. The Kits for Kids program (K4K) is a joint project with ROF, CRWRC, the Bible League and the Canadian Reformed World Relief.

Please remember our ministry, the orphans, poor families and our staff in your prayers.

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We are working on a pilot project in Kenya, jointly with CRWRC and Pwani CCS, the community development agent for the Anglican Church of Kenya (Dioceses of Mombasa and Taveta).

This pilot program is an integral part of a community development project. We assist with teaching small scale agriculture, animal husbandry, character / leadership training, hygiene and Christian values to 80 children at risk, particularly those orphaned, those living with HIV / AIDS, and those living in extreme poverty.   Currently we are developing an in-depth curriculum based on this pilot project.  It is our intent to provide this program in many more locations.

The need for help in Africa is so great that we have trouble comprehending the situation. The HIV death rate is over 3 million per year. The life expectancy in Africa has dropped from 55 to 35 years in the last decade. In the 15 - 49 age group, 40% are infected with the HIV virus; 60% of these are women. This tragedy has left many grandmothers with 10 to 15 grandchildren to care for. In many families the head of the family is the oldest child alive, often only 12 years old. This creates high-risk family situations. It also creates a food shortage since there are no workers to work the fields, in turn leaving people at a greater risk since good food is an important element in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We can not resolve the African situation, but we can show Christian compassion, provide relief and empowering education. We are focusing on setting up local community child-orientated programs, supported by church communities across Canada.

Your continued support is much appreciated.  Please contact Jack F. Gehrels (705-792-5019) anytime if you want more information. 

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All gifts to the ROF - Kingdom Children are tax deductible.  A receipt will be sent to you.  Please mail your gift to: 

ROF - Kingdom Children

P.O. Box 68 

Burlington, ON L7A 3X8

E-mail: gehrels@eol.ca

Charitable Registration No. 8946 1881 RR0001

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We want to thank all the diaconates and other donators, on behalf of the Romanian children, for making this ministry possible by scheduling offerings and providing financial support. The need in Romania is still great, the problem of child abandonment is continuing because of severe poverty. Our work has made a long lasting difference for many children.

The Kits for Kids program (K4K) is a joint project with ROF, CRWRC, the Bible League and the Canadian Reformed World Relief. Last Christmas 4985 gift parcels were distributed to orphans and to very poor rural families. This provided great joy to many children in orphanages and surrounding villages. Local churches will provide follow-up work.

Conditions in Romania are slowly improving.  The Romanian government, due to pressure from the E.U., is increasingly recognizing its responsibility for better orphan care.

Please remember our ministry, the orphans, poor families and our staff in your prayers.

Since we will be working in Romania as well as Africa our financial needs are increasing.  Your donation or church offerings will enable us to continue this work of mercy during 2005 to these children at risk.

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2005 was an exciting year for ROF - Kingdom Children. In Romania we continued our counseling, life skills training, abandonment prevention and family reunification program jointly with Dorcas Aid Romania and the Sibiu Baptist Church. Since conditions in Romania have very much improved, it is our plan to phase out our help to this program and hand it completely over to the Sibiu Baptist Church and Dorcas Aid during 2006.

 We are planning to continue with the “Kits 4 Kids” project in Romania. Last Christmas K4K distributed 4,638 gift parcels to orphans and to underprivileged children in poor villages. The parcels were handed out again through local churches so that follow up work with these children and families can be made by these churches. “Kits 4 Kids” is a joint project of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Canadian Reformed World Relief Fund and ROF - Kingdom Children. Romanian bibles and children’s bible story books were supplied by The Bible League.

To reflect God’s love and care and in keeping with long-term objectives, we changed our name from “Romanian Orphans Fund” to “ROF - Kingdom Children.” We are working on a pilot project in Kenya, jointly with CRWRC and Pwani CCS, the community development agent for the Anglican Church of Kenya (Dioceses of Mombasa and Taveta). See above description.

Please remember our ministry, the children, the poor families and our staff in your prayers.  Since we have expanded the work our financial needs have increased considerably.  Your gift or church offering enables us to continue this work of mercy during 2006.  Please send your financial support to:  ROF - Kingdom Children, P.O. Box 68, Burlington, Ontario  L7A 3X8. For more information or a digital copy of this page, please contact:  Jack F. Gehrels (705) 792 - 5019;  email: gehrels@eol.ca

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