The death rate in Zambia is very high. Life expectancy averages 49 years for men and 50 years for women. Because of the absence of functional public health and lack of medication, people die from anything like malaria to undiagnosed sicknesses. As such they leave behind children who become orphaned.
Village Hope embraces the idea of putting the orphans in families so they can grow up in a family setting. Sometimes it is an older sibling taking care of the young siblings, and sometimes it is an old person who takes on the responsibility. Village Hope has come alongside to provide financial and material help to such families for orphans. Orphans suffer when there is not enough to eat, they often get less than the other children in the household. They are often the last to get shoes, the last to go to school, etc. Village Hope has also come along side such organizations as: Dove and Kubelaka aba Muchana who are helping orphans in Zambia.