A Personal Message from Mark Cook
When Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize she said,"With this money I will build homes for the poor because it is in the home that love begins ". Perhaps, for most of us who surf the net, having a home is something we take for granted. It is impossible for us to imagine what life is like for children who do not have homes, or families, or anyone in the world to love or look after them.
A home can only be a dream for children who, as a result of wars or disasters, lose everything in life including their family.
It may surprise you to know, as you read this, that every 30 seconds a child, somewhere, is being orphaned as a result of war or disaster and will face a life without hope, having to survive by begging, crime, prostitution and violence.
"So what?" You might ask. "There is nothing I can do about it." But if you could, would you?
If we make it really easy for you to give a dream home to children such as these to give them real hope for the future, will you?
Our mission is very simple, and that is, "To give hope to children world-wide who have nowhere to live, because of war or disaster, by providing them with small family homes"
You have probably never heard of us, and might wonder what our motive is for doing this. It is simple. My name is Mark Cook and I was in the British Army for 30 years. My last appointment was as the Colonel commanding the British UN Contingent in Croatia in 1992 when the Balkans War started and I saw there, first hand, the effects of war on the lives of little children. Children are the truly innocent victims of wars or disasters because they have no say in what is going on and many are even forced to watch the execution of their parents.
When I was in Bosnia, I saw that there were many wonderful individuals and aid organisations taking food, medicine and clothing to keep people alive. However it was evident to me, that for many children life was not worth living because they had no family or home. So, I left the Army and, together with my wife Caroline, started Hope and Homes for Children.
We have now provided homes for children in Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Sierra Leone and Mozambique and in the last few months we have started new projects in Ukraine, Romania and the Sudan. Our method is simple; we raise money and use that in the country concerned to either buy or build small family homes for these children. Our overheads are small and we are very cost effective as we use, where possible, labour and materials in-country.
Not only can we provide homes for children today, which gives them immediate release from a life of hell, but we are also giving them a long-term future and the prospects of a happy and fulfilling life where they can attain their full potential and contribute to society as opposed to being a drain on it.
All those who support our work and help us provide homes for these children become a part of our international family. Please will you join us too and you can really help us give hope and homes to many more children for whom these are but a dream at the moment.
With the pervasiveness of television we cannot pretend that we do not know about the horrors going on around the world. Recently, when I was in Romania, I came across the family home of Elie Wiesel, a survivor or Auschwitz who later won the Nobel Peace Prize himself, and he said, "Indifference is a sin and a punishment. When people suffer we cannot remain indifferent." Please, do not remain indifferent. Take the first step to become a member of our international family NOW and contact us.