International Outreach Program
When the International Outreach Program began in 2006, Heart Touch wove together two threads—our founding mission that focused on those with HIV/AIDS and on our focus on ill children.
Our first trip in 2006 by thirteen Heart Touch volunteers was to Thailand to work in orphanages for children with AIDS. Statistics at the time put the number of children with HIV/AIDS in that Southeast Asian country at 300,000. Many of them had already lost both parents to the virus or had parents who were too ill to care for them. Some, already orphaned, were abandoned by extended families that were too ashamed or frightened to have an infected child around them.
Subsequently volunteers made annual trips to Cambodia to work with New Hope for Cambodian Children, an organization that runs four facilities to serve orphaned infants, children and young adults infected with HIV/AIDS. NHCC also has an extensive outreach program to support infected children who still live with family.
Children in orphanages face the challenge of getting their emotional and developmental needs met. They hunger for personalized care and attention. Being HIV positive adds another dimension to the issues they face. The goal of the International Outreach Program is to provide these children with experiences of caring, nurturing touch that they often lack. In addition to working with the children, volunteers teach staff and caregivers ways to continue the supportive, comforting touch to the children in their care.
Responding to a request from the founder of the AIMS Hospital in Kochin in the Indian state of Kerala, Heart Touch volunteers also travel to India to provide compassionate touch to hospital patients and to introduce the Heart Touch approach to caring touch to hospital staff.
Those who volunteer for the International Outreach Program must pay their own way. Some ask friends and family for financial assistance. Others host fundraising events to meet their financial goal. Depending on the destination and related factors, the cost ranges between $3,800 and $4,500.
All program volunteers are also required to take the Heart Touch Training in Compassionate Touch. For those who volunteer for Cambodia, Infant Massage Instructor Training is also required. For those who volunteer for India, Massage for Medically Fragile Infants and Children is a requirement.
Click here for the Calendar that lists Outreach dates and locations as well as training dates.
Click here for Application forms for the International Outreach Program and the trainings.
