Shukulu’s father had abandoned her mother before she was old enough to remember. Shukulu and her older brother and sister work very hard to help their mom sell vegetables in the Kagugu slum in Rwanda.
Their work starts hours before school and continues long after they return to their little one room hut. The mother works all day at a roadside stand, unable to spend much time with her children.
Patricie says, “As an Alongsider, it’s my responsibility to help others but it is also from a passion that God has put in my heart”.
Shukulu explains why she loves having an Alongsider, “Just being together and learning more about each other makes me happy. I love the little gifts she brings me as well: clothes and soap.”
Alongsiders.
We walk alongside those who walk alone.
The deepest need of any human being is the need to be loved.
As Mother Teresa said, "Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is truly the most terrible poverty."
In the world today there are millions of vulnerable and marginalized children. Their deepest, most heartfelt need is to be loved, welcomed into family and community, and encouraged to be all that God made them to be.
Yet this is perhaps the hardest need of all to meet, because love cannot be bought or traded, pressured or forced. It can only be offered freely.
Today, the populations of many Non-Western countries are disproportionately young (under 30 years old) - up to 70% in some nations.
What others see as a problem, we see as an opportunity. Throughout history, young people have been at the forefront of every movement for change.
Coupled with technological breakthroughs that allow us to connect easily and quickly, we believe this is an unprecedented moment in history for mobilizing the young church.
We equip compassionate young Christians through several resources such as comic books and animation videos, all around the world to walk alongside those who walk alone: to love, welcome and encourage the most vulnerable children in their own communities.
Alongsiders International catalyzes these discipleship movements through partnerships with church networks in each country. Equip your youth to make disciples with this simple but powerful approach.
In this way, thousands of children around the world have discovered their value through the love of their Alongsider and the local church.
There is an ancient Khmer proverb, "Only a spider can repair his own web." We believe the answers to each nation's brokenness particularly lie within that nation, with the people themselves.
We are now seeing a movement of one generation transforming the next, and many of the first “little brothers and sisters” have now grown up and become Alongsiders as well as leaders in their churches and communities.
Alongsiders spread from Asia to Africa. Now there are Alongsiders movements being planned in the Middle East, Latin America and Europe. Join us in helping equip youth to walk alongside those who walk alone.