Agape Trust Helping Young Mothers

The Word Agape describes the type of love that gives without expecting anything in return. We believe that children need to grow up feeling really loved and appreciated. They need contact with adults who they can trust and who care and encourage them to develop feelings of self-worth and self-esteem.

By giving children of our time we show them that they are valuable. God demonstrated His great love towards us by sending His Son to die on the cross for our transgressions. If we really believe this we become messengers of God's love to those who need it.

The Agape Trust was initially started as a fundraising initiative for disadvantaged children. Our focus has shifted since we moved to Poland in 2007. The time, effort and the costs involved for significant fundraising prevented us from putting in the effort required to help individuals. We decided that in our situation it is more time and cost effective to fund our activities out of our own pocket. Therefore we have unregistered our Swedish registered charity, the Agape Trust Insammlingsstiftelsen. Insammlingsstiftelsen is Swedish for charity foundation.

This means that any donations go 100% towards helping these young people as our overheads and other running costs are already covered.

There is a fundraising industry living off charities, which seems to be doing quite well.
To put it in a nutshell:
If we had the money to pay some of these people who want to “help” us, we would not need donations or to raise funds.

Deciding to run our help program from our own pocket meant we had to reassess our activities.

We are based in NE Poland and have regular contact with children in some orphanages and young adults who have grown up in the Polish orphanage system. Our current focus is on young unmarried teenage mothers who have left the orphanage system and are struggling to cope with life after an institutionalised childhood, which often started in dysfunctional families.

They leave the institutional care environment at 18 years age with a bag on their back, or a suitcase in their hand, with limited financial assistance, and are expected to manage on their own from then on. There is no significant social network outside the orphanage for many of these young people. The world is a scary place when one is unprepared for it. The need to be loved and be wanted is a primary need especially for someone with a low self-esteem and alone. For some of these young women, this leads to teenage pregnancy in an abusive relationship.

We have a smallholding outside town. It is a peaceful place. Somewhere where a stressed out young mother or a woman escaping domestic abuse can find a safe haven and have the opportunity to reflect and take stock of their life. At present we have one cottage, but plan on building at least two more little cottages. This is so the woman and child/children can have a quiet place and privacy to recover and gather strength.

The young adults we are helping with life coaching knew us while they were at their orphanage, and have come to us on their own initiative. These young women need help to:

• Feel safe.
• Develop self-esteem.
• Learn basic life skills to cope well in society.
• Learn about men and how to spot potential abusers to stop the generational cycle of abuse. They need to be able to find decent caring men who will encourage their personal growth and be role models for their children.
• Finish their education leading to a meaningful employment, beyond a minimum wage employment and poverty.

At the moment we are concentrating on helping teenage mothers to raise their children in a family home environment.

Any donation goes 100% to the cause as all overheads are covered.

Jesus said: "Whoever receives one little child like this
in My name, receives Me." Matthew 18:5