Since 2004

Beacon of Hope, Intl. and it's affiliates has taught the Smart Choices program to almost 1/4 million school children in South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as of July 2025. This program consists of six, one-hour lessons covering the following topics:

1. Identifying Your Dreams
   What are your current and future dreams and what can prevent you from reaching those dreams?
2. HIV Transmission
   What is HIV, what is AIDS?  How do you get it and how prevent getting it? 
3. Living with HIV
   What do you do if you think you are infected?  How do you live with HIV and how do you deal with others who are infected?
4. Making Life Choices
   Why are the choices we make important? Choices you make today can transform the rest of your life.
5. Amazing Love
   The Story of Prodigal Son in the form of an African parity, demonstrating the fathers unconditional love.  
6. Making an Impact
   Now that you have all of this valuable information, how will it impact your future choices. Who in your immediate friend and family group do you want to share this information with?  What can you do to make an impact on your community based on what you have learned in this course?

Through lectures, games, demonstrations, and worksheets taught by African nationals and American trainers, children learn the cause-and-effect relationship between their choices and their life situations. With HIV infection rates at 50% and higher in some areas, the education they receive can literally save their lives.

There are currently 17 local teaching teams on the ground in Southern Africa. For more information about the Smart Choices program, please Contact Us.

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Mission:

To glorify God by:

• Taking Hope & the Gospel to the African youth & their communities.
• Providing Orphan Care
• Assisting through Education & Discipleship
• Training in Sustainable Life Skills

Teaching at-risk children how:

• HIV is transmitted
• To care for those who have contracted it
• To make Smart Choices in life to avoid contracting and transmitting it themselves

Promoting Judeo-Christian values with the Smart Choices program

• Abstinence before marriage
• Faithfulness to one partner in marriage 

FACTS

• Established as 501(c)(3) in 2007
• Operating in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Uganda
• Completed training of 236,291 students (As of July 2025)
• Focused on equipping local leadership and financial accountability