How We Got Started
Nothing could prepare my husband and I for what we were about to see when we visited a tiny house that hid 109 very hungry and sick children in Benin, West Africa. As little children, lethargic and sick, came up to greet us, we could not help but see in their hollow eyes that they were in serious trouble.
They had no water, toilets, or showers. The nearest water source was two miles away. They only ate a small amount of rice once a day. Without intervention from the outside, these children were not going to live long.
When we approached organizations working in the area to help them, we were told that their situation was too complicated. We met with several organizations, but all were afraid of creating dependency. They each told us that they could not get involved with this type of orphanage. So we stepped in and helped this home ourselves, not realizing that this would be the first of many.
Shortly after that trip to Benin, we traveled to Liberia where, after 14 years of brutal civil war, we would find a strikingly similar scenario: suffering orphan children living in squalor. Once again, we could not find anyone willing to help the worst of the worst. So, along with a dear friend and co-worker, Matt Le Page, Orphan Relief and Rescue was birthed with a specific mission: to be a voice with action for orphans that no one else will help.
Learn more
Read our mission statement, vision, values and goals
