The Christian Council of Mozambique is a national council of churches that relates to Global Ministries.  Its membership includes the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa – Mozambique Synod. 

Mozambique is in southern Africa, bordering the Mozambique Channel, between South Africa and Tanzania.  The official language is Portuguese with indigenous dialects.  Its geography has coastal lowlands with high plateaus and mountains. The country often must confront severe drought, devastating cyclones, and floods.

Mozambique is recovering from a civil war that ended in 1992.  It is among the world’s poorest countries and remains dependent on international financial backing.  Its population is suffering from extreme poverty, malnutrition, disease, hunger, and a high illiteracy rate. The high rate of HIV infection is alarming and AIDS has lowered the average life expectancy.  Mozambique’s large and secondary cities are plagued with violence and crime.  Young girls are victims of these conditions due to social conditions, abandonment, and dominant practices in the treatment of women. Girls come from situations where they are abused physically. Many girls have been orphaned and some are infected with AIDS. 

The Christian Council of Mozambique founded the Center for Support of Girls in Need (CARAN) in 1996 to support girls in Maputo who might otherwise be on the streets.  The Center supports approximately 35 girls, ages 6-15, many of whom live on-site as well as additional girls who come in daily. The girls are enrolled in school and around 90 percent do very well in their formal studies, quite an accomplishment considering the obstacles they have faced.  

At the Center the girls receive proper nutrition, housing, health care, and skills training.  The skill-building courses include computer and language skills, cooking, sewing.  They also participate in recreation, games, and traditional dance instruction. They participate in an income-generating water project in which they are selling fresh water to the local community. The girls have expanded CARAN’s garden and have begun to raise chickens. There are fellowship events with members of the Center’s Advisory Council and children from member churches of the Christian Council.  CARAN encourages extended family visits and relationships.  After their successful residence, some girls are reincorporated into their families, while others go on to find a job and live independently. 

CARAN dreams of expanding their project into unused, neighboring school buildings. These old school buildings are owned by the Christian Council of Churches and, at the moment, are not being used. They are in excellent condition and have access to water and electricity. The dream is to use these buildings to provide further training and education to the girls when they leave the center at 15 years old.