I met Janet Littlefield six years ago when she was a teacher in Hebron, Maine. Even then she was an inspiration to everyone that met her. At the time she was supporting a few orphans in Malawi, Africa by sending part of her pay checks to help feed and put the children through school. She has since given up her teaching job so she could dedicate her life to helping more than 70 children in dire need of assistance. The Friends of Littelfield Home is located in the Mpamila area of Malawi. The goal of Friends of Littlefield Home is to reduce the factors that lead to poverty while helping the community to become self sufficient. There are 65 local orphans that are all provided with school tuition, school uniforms, school supplies, food, and food supplements for those that need them. Currently, all of the local orphans are housed at Friends of Littlefield Home but in the future, hopefully by the end of 2012 if enough money is raised, the home plans on building houses for the impoverished elderly in the area, as well as a house for 15 orphans from another area of Malawi. These 15 orphans are also provided the basic amenities that the children from Mpamila receive although they are not yet housed in the same village. The home provides a pre-school program to prepare the younger children for primary school as well as an after school tutoring program available to all the home’s students.

The Friends of Littlefield Home provides transportation to and from hospitals to help those in the surrounding area with HIV/AIDS care and awareness. Janet has brought more than 150 friends to Malawi both to teach them about life in a third world country and also for the visitors to help teach the village. Everyone that goes to Malawi runs different workshops to help teach AIDS awareness, nutrition awareness, reading, health, hygiene, rainforest conservation, and much more. The home also employs patrolmen for the local forests to help prevent poaching, and illegal deforestation.

All of these services are provided through the money that Janet is able to raise, with the help of many that have visited Friends of Littlefield Home. All sorts of charity events are held every year from silent auctions to marathons in Death Valley with all proceeds going directly towards helping these children. Those that take a trip to Friends of Littlefield Home come back with a more open heart and a better understanding and appreciation for human life in general. What is being done at Friends of Littlefield Home is truly changing the lives of countless people. It is the hope that the children educated through the home will be better able to continue on to provide even better lives for their children and teach them to do the same for their children. It is a cycle that must go on and with the continuing help and care of people like Janet Littlefield, it is sure to. This organization needs all the help it can get! Please check out http://www.littlefieldhome.org/ if you would like to learn more or are interested in providing assistance to the children!