Celebrate HOPE to raise support for African orphans

Aiming to bolster its Project Canaan home for abandoned children in central Swaziland, the Cape Girardeau-based U.S. Heart for Africa group will hold its fifth annual Celebrate Hope fundraiser Saturday.

Group president Jimmy Wilferth expects 400 to 500 people to help meet the group's $100,000 goal.

"We've raised over $300,000 in the last four years," Wilferth said, noting the Christian-based international organization also works from Canada, Taiwan and China.

"We are one of the only homes in Swaziland that takes infants," he said. "A lot of these babies are discarded, and the government or police have no other place to go. That's why we feel so strongly called to make ourselves available."

Noting Manzini is the closest city to the southern African project, Wilferth said his group also has worked in Kenya and South Africa but in the past four years focused on Swaziland because of that small nation's health crisis.

"They have the highest rate of AIDS and HIV in the world," he said. "In a country with a population of 950,000, half of the people are children, many of them orphans. HIV and AIDS have killed off the majority of adults. They have grandparents and kids but no parents."

From her office at 280 S. Mount Auburn Road, U.S. Heart for Africa trip coordinator Lisa Borders said Project Canaan, named for the land promised to the Israelites after their escape from Egypt, has 52 newborns and toddlers on a 2,500-acre farm that was bought for $1 million by an anonymous donor in 2008. Two hundred Swazis work there with 15 volunteers.

"Celebrate Hope is to raise awareness about the ministry and to raise funds," Borders said. "Our goal is to become self-sustainable."

Wilferth said the dilemma posed by Swaziland's orphans is the result "of children having children.

"These young girls become pregnant because they're having sex for food," he said. "With the parents gone, the typical homestead has eight to 10 kids."

Wilferth said Swaziland "is one of the last remaining kingdoms," ruled by King Mswati III, who backs the project.

"The king has a lot of wives, and many of them have been to the farm, where we're only using a small portion of the property," he said.

"Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area are truly our hub of support," Wilferth said. "We get an amazing amount of support here, and we're looking forward to a fantastic night."

He said Heart for Africa's annual worldwide budget is $2.5 million.

Wilferth said he was initially looking to buy 100 acres for the orphans, but there is only a small amount of private property available for sale in Swaziland, most of which is owned by the kingdom.

"Our donor said, 'Let's just buy that whole piece and not limit God to a small piece of ground,'" he said.

The doors will open at 6 p.m., and the event starts at 7 p.m. at The Venue, 80 S. Plaza Way in Cape Girardeau, with dinner, oral and silent auctions, music by the Shades of Soul band and a raffle for an all expense-paid trip to Swaziland. Tickets must be purchased in advance for $50 by emailing lisa@heartforafrica.org.

Pertinent address:

80 S. Plaza Way, Cape Girardeau, Mo.