Orphaned children sit in chairs outside

Replacing teen marriage with education and opportunity in Uganda.

You can see Immaculate’s drive to succeed in her eyes: round and curious, yet ablaze with determination. Sixteen-year-old Immaculate has a natural gift for writing and a dream to be a midwife. Two years ago this aspiration was impossible, as she faced an early marriage and motherhood, the likely path for most young girls in Uganda. But God led Immaculate to Project Princess Initiative (PPI), a Cross International ministry partner where teen girls find hope, compassion, and opportunity for a better future. 

Immaculate lives in Kampala, Uganda, where more than 700,000 girls between the ages of six and twelve have never attended school. Forty percent of girls in Uganda are married before they turn 18, and the average age girls give birth for the first time is 18.9 years old. 

When a young girl is in school, the possibility of early marriage drastically diminishes. 
Immaculate’s mother, like most mothers, wants the best for her daughter. Earning only $5 USD a week selling dried fish, she sees PPI as a pathway to a better life for Immaculate. With strength and humility, she embraces that PPI provides her daughter a future of opportunity – truly a gift from God. 

PPI serves 951 girls with mentoring, life skills training, tutoring, and health education. PPI sends counselors into schools to reach at-risk girls with messages of faith, wise choices, and the importance of education. Girls are able to meet with tutors and counselors, receive vocational training, learn about reproductive and menstrual health, and be medically treated. Younger girls look to their “Big Sisters”, older girls living out what they learn at PPI, for encouragement as they grow and thrive in the program and in faith. Seeing other girls and women like them succeed invokes hope and confidence. 

Children living in crisis need opportunity, not charity.
Cross International’s desire is to bring kids to a full, rich life with hope, potential, and a bright future of becoming an adult able to meaningfully contribute to their community. We believe that we can reach the family through the child; to help that child thrive is how we help families and communities.  

Vulnerable children like Immaculate are under the special care and protection of God. It is our privilege, as His people, to contribute to their redemptive story. Please consider supporting our Thriving Kids initiative today and give children like Immaculate an opportunity to stand firm on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Your donation supports the Thriving Kids initiative to answer God’s call to love orphans and children.

Every child has potential. Not every child has opportunity. With Cross, you can give them that gift.

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See your gift go TWICE as far!

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Any gift you give before the end of the year will be MATCHED dollar for dollar, up to $75,000, to transform lives not only now, but into the future!

Help Children With Disabilities

The UN estimates that between 93 and 150 million children worldwide live with a disability. In developing countries, these children are often unable to attend school, play outside or access specialized resources. Negative stigma or superstition among their parents, neighbors and community leaders often reinforce these barriers.

This year, we’re providing $60,000 worth of medical equipment to Kupenda for the Children in Kenya. This is a very remote location, and your gift will help cover the shipping costs to this very worthy medical outreach.

This gift will benefit: Kenya

Heal the Sick

In developed countries, basic medical supplies such as gauze, wraps, bandages, and syringes are commonplace. Unfortunately, that is often not the case in the developing world. Christian doctors and volunteers in developing countries frequently run low on these supplies, and they also lack the funds to keep large inventories on hand.

This year, we’re providing $84 million worth of medicines and medical supplies. Your gift will help cover the shipping costs to medical outreaches in some of the most remote areas of the globe

This gift will benefit: Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kenya

Build a Family a Home

A gift of a safe, secure home is tangible affirmation of God’s love for a desperate family — it brings hope, health, stability and opportunity. Most poor families must settle for much less. Mired in poverty, they are forced to live in unsafe shacks fashioned from mud and thatch.

You can provide the life-changing gift of a safe, storm-resistant new home with Cross partners Ambuya Development Center in Malawi and Hope of Life in Guatemala. A new home will ease the family’s burdens, protect them from the wind and rain, and help them achieve their dreams.

This gift will benefit: Guatemala, Malawi

Education

The gift of an education is an investment that reaps long-term dividends for a child’s future. By opening doors for the children of the poor to enroll in Christian schools and get the same educational opportunities as their more economically well-off peers, you are giving not just a hand-out but a “hand-up.”

Your gift will fund Christian education to nurture vulnerable children mentally and spiritually — for thriving futures that will transform hopeless places.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Ecuador, Uganda

Rescue Women and Children in Crisis

Through emergency child rescue services, vocational training, anti-trafficking programs and Bible literacy classes, Cross International is helping vulnerable women and children reclaim their lives. Inspired by Jesus’ love, we work shoulder to shoulder with our in-country partners, empowering them to create change that lasts so that those who need help will eventually be able to stand confidently on their own. Be a part of this good news and make a life-saving gift part of your holidays.

Your gift will help protect victims of gender-based violence and also help save marginalized women and children from harm.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua

Provide Clean, Safe Water

Our ministry partner, the Kachere Development Center, has an ambitious plan to install 20 wells, providing 5,160 adults and 8,414 children with clean water. Our goal is to finance the drilling and installation of one well – part of an entire community water system, which includes training to maintain the well, and sanitation and hygiene training for improved health.

One borehole can provide 2,800 gallons of safe, life-sustaining water every day. Help us bring clean, safe water to one of these villages today — in a way that will last for generations.

This gift will benefit: Zambia

Give Tools for Sustainable Farming

One of nine people worldwide survive on less than $1.90 a day. Without training and supplies to grow moneymaking crops and breed profitable livestock, poor farmers stay locked in the cycle of poverty.

By supporting this fund, you’ll help families break free of poverty — transforming lives for generations. When families get the training and tools they need, it means bountiful harvests and small animals that produce income for a sustainable business model.

This gift will benefit: Guatemala, Nicaragua

Feed Hungry Children

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 811 million in the world suffer from under-nourishment. By providing the gift of food, you will save the lives of thousands of hungry children and their families in developing countries.

Your gift will provide meals for ministry partners such as Divine Shelter Schools in Haiti and Hope of Life in Guatemala. A generous donation during this season of giving will change lives forever.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Malawi

Most Urgent Needs

Inspired by the love of Jesus, we work shoulder to shoulder with local leaders overseas, equipping families with the resources they need to thrive – basics like food, clean water and healthcare, as well as longer-term community transformation projects that will ensure lasting change.

By giving to our Thriving Kids Initiative, you’re not only meeting children’s Most Urgent Needs, you’re also helping lift their families – even entire communities – out of poverty.

This gift will benefit: Africa, The Caribbean, Central America, South America

Feed Hungry Children

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 811 million in the world suffer from under-nourishment. By providing the gift of food, you will save the lives of thousands of hungry children and their families in developing countries like Haiti, Malawi, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Your gift will support the provision of meals and other basic services that are essential for survival. A generous donation during this season of giving will change lives forever.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Malawi

Recommended Gift
$1,000 will feed 30 children for a month | $5,000 will feed 80 children for a month | $10,000 will feed 92 children for a month | $20,000 will feed 184 children for a month

Donate to Cross International’s Thriving Kids Initiative