Diaper drive aims to help African children

Heart for Africa’s diaper drive is accepting donations in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, said local volunteer Teresa Birk.

Birk is coordinating the donations that are being accepted at Roy’s Tire and Auto at 408 E. Jackson Blvd. in Jackson and Realty Executives office at 2511 Independence St. in Cape Girardeau, through June 29.

Birk said the drive is primarily for diapers and wipes, but donations of school supplies and children’s books also are needed.

“Basically anything you’d need for your own kids at home would be great to donate,” Birk said.

Heart for Africa, a not-for-profit organization based out of Atlanta, has an outreach mission in Swaziland, Project Canaan, a 2,500-acre self-sustaining farm with an orphanage and school, and programs providing support to 30 churches in Swaziland.

A book shows two of the children served by Project Canaan, an outreach mission of Heart for Africa.Fred Lynch

A total of 159 children are living on the farm, said David Bryant, director of development for Heart for Africa, up from 158 just a few days ago.

Heart for Africa focuses on hunger, orphans, poverty and education, Bryant said, and Project Canaan receives a new child an average of every two weeks.

“With that number of children, we’re changing hundreds of diapers a day,” Bryant said. “This drive is designed to bring in 150,000 diapers and 500,000 wipes. We’re very close to that goal with people like Teresa and all the supporters in Cape Girardeau, which is a very supportive and very generous community, now and over the years as well.”

Bryant said donations can also be made at the organization’s website, heartforafrica.org. Bryant can be reached directly at david@heartforafrica.org.

“We have a phenomenal educational program at Project Canaan, where we’ve built a preschool and primary school, which we’ll continue to build as children get older based on what the need is,” Birk said.

Birk said Swaziland has a high rate of HIV infection — 42 to 44 percent by some estimates — and as a result, many children are orphaned.

“It’s not uncommon for a grandmother to be raising upwards of 10 children,” Birk said.

Swaziland’s unemployment rate also is high, Birk said, and Project Canaan’s farm employs about 300 people.

Birk said two poultry houses house a total of 5,000 chickens. Eggs and meat from those chickens help feed residents on the farm, Birk said, but excess can be sold at the nearby market, adding an income source.

In 2010, Birk said, a fundraiser brought in $125,000 for the baby home on Project Canaan. In 2011, it added a medical clinic. A water system is under development.

Birk said packs from national organization Feed My Starving Children also are delivered to Project Canaan, which she said was neat, because packs are created in Cape Girardeau and Jackson once a year.

Birk said after donations are collected, they’ll be loaded onto a shipping container and driven to Atlanta, where they’ll be shipped directly to Swaziland in early July.

“Once the container arrives in Swaziland, the items will go to our warehouse for distribution, and the shipping container will then be built into a building on the farm,” Birk said.

They’ve already shipped 38 cases of diapers and wipes to Atlanta, Birk said, and she’s excited to see the donations coming in.

“It’s been a real blessing in my life to be part of this,” Birk said.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

408 E. Jackson Boulevard, Jackson, Mo.

2511 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.