Hope Ofiriha is a partnership between European, African, Australian, and North American volunteers who work together to transform the lives of women and children in Magwi County in South Sudan—one of the most poor, remote, and neglected places in the world. We also assist South Sudanese refugee women and children stranded in Uganda and occasionally North Sudan.
We are registered as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Norway (no. 980 084 140) and with the Government of South Sudan. Hope Ofiriha’s main office is in Torit, a town southeast of Magwi County that is the capital of Eastern Equatoria State. We also have a coordinating office in Oslo, Norway.
Through our partnerships with ChooseAneed.org, GlobalGiving, and the Omprakash Foundation, donations to Hope Ofiriha have 501(c)3 tax-exempt status in the United States. Through our partnership with GlobalGiving UK, they are also tax deductible in the United Kingdom.
The small-scale grassroots projects we sponsor help women and children overcome social injustice, disease, illiteracy, and poverty. They are designed to give a hand up—not a hand out—and generally fall into six categories:
- Healthcare. Hope Ofiriha’s healthcare projects focus on reducing child mortality rates, preserving mothers’ lives, and preventing and combating HIV infection. We run a health clinic and a maternity clinic in two remote villages.
- Education. We invest more in education than any other type of project because we strongly believe literacy is the ticket out of poverty. We fund the construction of school buildings and work to ensure children, especially girls and war orphans, stay in school.
- Agriculture. Our agricultural projects are aimed at diversifying crops, increasing food supplies, and improving farming and rural business practices. They mostly target rural women farmers who are heads of their households.
- Child Sponsorship. We find sponsors for the children of South Sudanese refugees living in slums in the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda. Many of these children are war orphans. Child sponsorship not only pays the fees necessary for these children to attend school, it ensures they are fed, clothed, and receive regular medical care.
- Microcredit. Our microcredit projects give small loans to women to help them start their own businesses.
- Environment. Our environmental projects combat deforestation, improve environmental health, and promote environmental awareness and conservation.
