BKF's vision is to not only provide housing, education and medical care to orphaned, abandoned, and neglected children but to make them independent, responsible members of society as well. We want to empower these disenfranchised members of society and help them become independent, responsible citizens.

II. Mission

Accomplishing this vision would be multi-faceted. First, an economically viable and sustainable system of care for a select number of children must be established. Once put into place, this system can be duplicated in various other communities worldwide, and the current base of operations expanded upon. This template will be based on a sound business plan, which will allow the orphanage to expand and ensure the continued sponsorship and care of its charges.

III. Project Description

A. Statement of problem to be addressed

The lives and future of millions children in Sub-Saharan Africa are seriously at risk. Bulela Kabujimini, which means "who will care for my child when I am gone," is a question faced by a region beset by an unprecedented assault on its youth. It a question that quite literally has gone unanswered for a whole generation of lost; orphaned, displaced and abandoned youth in countries decimated by civil war, poverty and HIV/AIDS.

The orphan populations are concentrated in certain countries. In it's article Sub-Saharan Africa: Without War, We could fight AIDS, the top international children's charity, Save the Children points out that "Of the 17 countries with more than 100,000 children orphaned by AIDS, 13 are in conflict or on the brink of emergency involving conflict… Conflict is contributing to the more rapid transmission of HIV" and by default to the dramatic increases in the number of orphaned, displaced and abandoned children. The grim reality is that the significant rise in the numbers of orphans can in huge part be attributed to situations of conflict such as the following

·         Many women were raped in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, leaving an estimated 15,000 women pregnant. Of 2,000 women tested for HIV after the genocide, 80 per cent were HIV positive.	·      In northern Uganda, rebel forces sexually abused thousands of girls. By 1997, soldiers in Uganda had an HIV prevalence rate of 27 per cent when the national adult prevalence was 9.5 percent.
·         In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the African country with the largest ongoing war, some 680,000 children have lost parents to AIDS	·       In Burundi, up to 13 per cent of young women and 8 per cent of young men are believed to be living with HIV

Sub-Sahara Africa has the greatest proportion of children who are orphans. This is according to Children on the Brink, a report on orphan estimates and program strategies published jointly by USAID, UNAIDS and UNICEF with estimates developed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The first two editions of the report in 1997 and 2000 represented a "wake up call" to the international community. And, the most current version released on July 12, at the XIV International AIDS conference in Barcelona, Spain 2002 further jolted the world when its statistic indicated that by the end of 2001, 34 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa were orphans." This figure represents 12% of all the children in this region. That is, almost double the proportion of orphans in Asia (6.5%) and more than double the number in Latin America (5%). Much of this difference is largely due to HIV/AIDS. The total percentage of orphans resulting from other causes would represent a lower approximately 8% if not for HIV/AIDS.