The Adventist Development and Relief Agency International launched a pilot program to help children better understand how other children live around the world. The launch coincided with the United Nations special session on children, held last week in New York City.

“The program ‘ADRA’s Adventures for Kids’ is an integral part of ADRA’s on-going development education initiatives designed to create an awareness and understanding among children in developed countries about the needs and issues facing children in developing countries,” said Tereza Byrne, bureau chief for marketing and development, ADRA International. “This particular initiative is 100 percent web-based, providing a globally affordable and accessible resource tool. As the program develops, it will be translated into several languages.”

ADRA’s Adventures for Kids aims to provide a dynamic, interactive learning experience for children in schools, camps, church programs such as Vacation Bible School, or other group activities. The curriculum draws on ADRA field stories and includes biblical values of compassion and responsibility for one’s neighbors. The program helps children recognize their own uniqueness and what they each have to offer to the world. ADRA’s Adventures for Kids can be found on ADRA International’s web site at www.adra.org.

In addition to the ADRA’s Adventures for Kids curriculum, ADRA International has developed a variety of educational programs, including ADRA’s Global Village, an interactive For Kids section on the ADRA International web site, three activity books, and videos with multiple children’s segments and an accompanying activity poster. ADRA International also sponsors conferences for children such as the 1999 and 2004 camporees for a youth organization similar to scouts.

In ADRA’s mission statement, the agency pledges to facilitate the right and ability of all children to attain their full potential and to assist in assuring the child’s survival to achieve that potential. For instance, ADRA is implementing a multi-year child survival health program in Yemen that will benefit 127,000 children. In Madagascar, ADRA is feeding nearly 90,000 children as part of the first international school lunch program. ADRA is also rebuilding 70 primary school classrooms in earthquake-affected villages in Rapar Taluka of Kutch District in Gujarat State, India.