Givelight Foundation

After COVID subsided last year, our operations returned to a somewhat normal level. We were able to hold several private events and a few public ones as well, such as Global Bistro. We grew from providing services in 11 countries to 13 countries and have surpassed our goal of supporting more than 1,000 orphans. Our income grew, as did our donor and volunteer base. Our staff remains small yet productive, consisting of Chief Executive Officer (full time), Director of Operations (full time), and Web Developer (part time). These three roles are critical in managing GiveLight's growth, volunteers, projects, events, bookkeeping, and website. 2021 Accomplishments by Country: 1. Aceh Home, Indonesia There are 34 children in our Aceh home. Our focus in 2021, as always, was to inspire a love of learning; to help our kids grow academically, emotionally, and spiritually; and most importantly, to foster love, security and a sense of identity/belonging. We nurture their passions and talents through encouragement and participation. The children have extensive talents in a variety of fields, including music, art, mathematics, sports, and public speaking. Many have participated and won awards in school and city-wide competitions in diverse areas. Their competitive spirit in turn motivates our younger children in the home. Upon launching Project Inspire to connect our children with tutors, many kids have shown improvement in English conversation and comprehension. We also have a tutor teaching them art, which the kids thoroughly enjoy. We always emphasize the importance of education in securing a bright future. Our children are motivated to learn and to make something great of their lives because they have seen first-hand the value of success. So far, 17 of our children have graduated from college and secured financial independence. Five more are ready to graduate high school and pursue their own college careers. 2. Pakistan As planned in 2020, we were able to kick off our Pakistan project in 2021 with the goal of building a home for 60 children in the city of Multan on land donated by a generous family. We have started the registration process to form a legal entity in Pakistan. This may take some time as the new government is implementing alternate rules and regulations, but we decided its the most efficient way to build a strong presence in Pakistan. Our long-term goal is to help hundreds of children who are living in lesser-equipped orphanages or with poor, overburdened relatives. We continue our partnership with The Citizen Foundation (TCF) to provide scholarships to 200 orphans. TCF is the largest educational non-profit in Pakistan, running close to 1,500 schools, providing quality education to 220,000 students (50% of whom are girls) in the most underprivileged areas of the country. Beginning in 2018, we have been providing full scholarships to 200 orphans attending TCF primary and secondary schools throughout Pakistan. 3. Bangladesh A. Our Bangladesh home has 54 girls and is a happy space just like all our other homes. Seven of our girls will be ready for high school/college in the next few years. We continue to nurture their dreams of becoming doctors, teachers, lawyers, and engineers. It has been amazing to see their transformation from states of confusion and degradation to ones of strength and the capacity to dream big. Having come from extreme poverty, they are now on their way to bright futures. B. We continue to support another orphanage called Darussunat by sponsoring meals and financing special projects, including purchasing new clothes and shoes for all 325 children. As in prior years, we provided special meals, including their favorite fruits and drinks to break fast in the month of Ramadan. We also provided special meals during major holidays. 4. Sri Lanka The boys in our Sri Lankan home are growing fast, the oldest being 20 and ready to pursue his career as a professional chef. During Covid we started an organic garden, and they continue to enjoy the harvest of their labor. They keep an active schedule with lessons in karate and English as well as playing the occasional game of cricket. They have a beautiful playroom (designed by a local designer, pro bono) in which they play board games, read books, and enjoy quality time together. Our older boys are working hard to excel in school and are setting positive examples for the younger children, many of whom want to become computer programmers and engineers. We are preparing to teach them coding and other programming to help them get a great start in tech and other fields of interest. 6. San Francisco Bay Area We continued to provide scholarships and mentorship to our local children. We brought everyone together for a picnic at the park. During the holidays we gave them new clothes, books, and toys. Some of our kids are now in college and on their way to financial independence. 7. Cambodia Our home in Cambodia has a total of 70 children who came from remote villages and extreme poverty. Set on a rubber plantation, the home is surrounded by beautiful trees and greenery, giving it a sense of peace and serenity. The children attend a public school conveniently located across from the home. Because of the open and large space, the children enjoy playing soccer, hide-and-go-seek, and other creative games. They also love sitting peacefully and observing the nature around them. 8. Morocco In our Moroccan home we have 40 girls ranging in age from six to nineteen. They attend public schools run by the government. One of our eldest girls was accepted to the best university in Morocco to study business. Her essay was so impressive that she was granted admission right away. Our goal is to support and nurture them until they finish college and become contributing members of society. Another one of our girls will be ready for college soon, and the rest of the children will follow in her footsteps. 9. Turkey We continued to sponsor 136 orphans for many afterschool activities in Fatih district and the Asian district. Fortunately, these children have their mothers to care for them; while we do not need to build a home, we do need to provide financial support for the childrens education. The center serves as a safe place for the kids to gather socially, to get help with homework, and to learn English, Turkish, cooking, music and drama. Most importantly, we provide professional therapy sessions for children healing from the trauma of war. 10. Nepal We continued our partnership with AMA Foundation to support 10 children ranging in age from six to eleven in Kathmandu who were victims of the earthquake in Nepal. We received their biographies along with photographs and some artwork created by them. Despite the hardship of losing their parents, they have now found a home where they will be taken care of and loved. A GiveLight volunteer paid them a visit in summer 2019, and we plan to send other volunteers in the near future. 11. Jordan We are renting an apartment in Amman, Jordan for 59 children and 16 single moms and caretakers. The kids attend schools sponsored by the government The cost of living is quite high in Amman, and we are fortunate to have generous support from our friends to continue helping these children to have a normal life In cases like this, we don't want to separate the children from their mothers or family members, so renting a clean and safe place is the best option. This is the fourth year of our support, and we hope to continue our assistance until the kids can stand on their own feet. 12. Yemen After months of research to locate a trustworthy partner in Yemen, we found a credible NGO that met our stringent criteria. We signed an agreement to fully support 90 orphans for one year to cover the cost of food, clothing and education. We agreed to focus on the safer areas of Yemen where the partner could physically visit the children and ensure that the funds were serving their purpose. The partner was able to send us the bios of all 90 children within one week; when we next requested an update, however, we received no response. Regrettably, we had no choice but to terminate our support due to the partners inability to demonstrate results and financial transparency. We hope to find a different partner soon who shares our philanthropic mission to uplift the lives of children in Yemen with transparency and trust. 13. Lebanon Lebanon is another country in turmoil, and the economic situation has gone from bad to worse. Through our network of volunteers, we were able to identify and vet an organization based in Beirut. We have been able to support 50 children since 2021, sending funds for food, clothing and education. The partner was able to send us a report in a timely manner showing the healthy and happy states of the children. We hope to continue our service in Lebanon through this partnership over the next few years leading up to building a home of our own for orphaned children. FUTURE