Click to download a PDF DOCUMENT presenting more about OUR SAFE HISTORY and TEAM (coming soon)
SAFE ... An Engaging Story
SAFE (Sub Saharan Africa Family Enrichment), a faith-based non-governmental organization (NGO), was registered in Malawi in 1993 to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The founders, Dick and Charlotte Day, saw three main areas of need as the came to understand the profound impact HIV/AIDS had on every aspect of family life. Today, the ministry of SAFE inter-generationally addresses these needs in the following integrated ways:
Education & Youth Development
Why Wait? Truth for Youth - a biblical life skills curriculum, spanning eight years, and taught in primary and secondary schools.
Safe Life Youth Clubs - biblical training for teen youth and guidance to help them undertake projects to benefit their own communities.
Mother Groups - helping teen mothers learn parenting skills and return to school, while addressing their unique emotional and spiritual needs.
Early Childhood Development (ECD)
Community Based Childcare Centers - village based preschools which promote exploratory play in teaching children life skills, communicating biblical truths, and providing each day a healthy meal.
Parenting Education - Teaching biblical parenting skills for raising healthy, emotionally mature children in the villages.
Gogo Grandmother Support
The grandmothers in Malawi are now raising their orphaned grandchildren due to the dying generation of parents infected with HIV/AIDS. We support them in very practical ways: emotional encouragement, spiritual development, and provision of physical needs so that they can care for their grandchildren, including fertilizer and seeds, emergency food aid, mosquito nets to protect against malaria, and blankets.
The Days came to Africa for one year in 1990 and are still there today. As God says in Proverbs “Man plans his way but God directs his steps”. Proverbs 16:9. , Dick and Charlotte remain actively involved in this vibrant work, but SAFE/Gogo Grandmothers has a strong team of Malawians who are carrying out our mission of “changing lives through God’s love and truth.”
• MALAWI, a country slightly smaller than Pennsylvania, is located in East-Central, Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Population is 20 million--one of the continent's most densely populated countries
• 75% rural, 25% urban--half the population is under 18 years of age.
• 75% live in extreme poverty ($1.25 per day)
• 65% are unable to meet their basic needs
• Vast majority are subsistence farmers ("if they don't grow it; they don't have it.")
• Only 36% have access to safe water
• Only 8% have access to electricity
• Estimated HIV infection rate among adults (age 15-49) is 10.6%
Click here for a detailed Malawi Country Profile
Dick and Charlotte Day . . . Founders
Charlotte Day with the original Makungula Village chief and gogos
Mariners Church gogos (the original Gogo group) assemble note card packs for sale at a fund raiser.