Sunday, November 4, 2012

The orphan crisis

        Today there an estimated 147 million orphans are around the world. I recently read a quote where someone said "In the past, people used to care for the orphans and loved them, but these days they are so many...and therefore orphanhood is a common phenomenon, not strange." This is sadly all too true. The fact that every 2.2 seconds another child is orphaned and only 12% of these children receive support for their basic needs…not counting their medical or spiritual needs. In 2010 it was predicted that in less then 5 years there would be 50 million orphans in just 16 of Africa’s 53 countries, today there are 34 million in sub-Saharan Africa alone. A recent study by UNICEF reported that “AIDS has already orphaned more than 13 million African children, half of whom are between the ages of 10 and 14.”  These same studies show that every day 38,493 orphans age out of the system by age 16, of which 10-15% of them commit suicide before they’re 18.

        60% of orphaned females either sell themselves or are forced into prostitution to survive after being orphaned or ageing out of the system and 70% of the boys become criminals having been reduced to stealing to survive. 1.2 million orphans are forced into human trafficking every day. 1.2 million! There is something wrong with that picture!!! These children are being forced into situations that we could never imagine all because they don’t get the care they need!!!! These children have been through worse trauma then we could ever imagine and it’s just going to get worse for them. Because they are uneducated they will never amount to anything nor be able to survive if they don’t get help.  Fr. John Lynch said “Unless we reach out and act now, a whole generation of children could die before our eyes."

       There is something wrong with Christianity today if we are not taking a stand for the cause of the orphans and considering these numbers it’s obvious that we’re not! There are not enough people in this world who are willing to help these children. As Christians we are commanded to care for the orphans. Christ has been very clear about that. Our faith is not pure in His eyes if we are not caring for these children. Thousands of orphans starve to death every day. We have a chance to stop that, to make a difference in their lives, to save their lives!

        Is your heart breaking yet? Mine is. Has your heart been touched enough that you are impacted to do something for these children? Mine has. I will not stand idley by as these children are suffering, I am going to spend m life working for these children and helping them. Today is Orphan Sunday, a day in which the body of Christ unites in support for the orphans of the world. This is the day in which we remember the orphan and so something to help them. For most people these shocking statistics are just numbers but for me they are so much more then that. Until you have seen and held these children it is hard to fully understand. I have been there. I have held countless crying children, I have heard the heartbreaking question “why are my parents dead and yours are alive?” I have laughed with them, cried with them and broken my heart for them.

        Today is Orphan Sunday, a day in which the church unites for the cause of the orphan. A day in which YOU change a child’s life. By sponsoring a child you not only provide meals, housing and school tuition but also medical support, spiritual  help and love. When you sponsor a child you extend Christ’s love to them and form a lifelong relationship with them. Many people hear these statistics and pity the children but do nothing to help. Please don’t be that person. Be the person who hears and pities,  but allows their pity to be the motivation behind a sponsorship. Let today be the day you take that step and start a sponsorship.
               “For the glory of God!”

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