Today I am thinking about all the orphans in the world. Can you guess how many there are? In 2006 there were 12.4 million orphans in India, according to CSA (Catalysts for Social Action. Millions of orphans in Africa. Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 15 million children under 18 have been orphaned as a result of AIDS. Around 11.6 million of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of orphans in China are abandoned due to strict laws controlling the number of children each family can have. Over 4.5 million orphans in Iraq. According to the United Nations, UNICEF, and Save the Children:
• The number of orphans worldwide is estimated at 210 million, rapidly increasing due to the AIDS epidemic, natural disasters, low world health standards, immense poverty, and food shortages made worse now by our global financial collapse. Millions more everywhere....all over the world.
from world of orphans:
The Problem
The number of children in the world that have lost their mother or father, are parentless, or have been abandoned…now exceeds 143 million. This absolutely staggering number is almost equivalent to one-half of the total population of the United States. Can you imagine if one out of every two Americans was a child living on the streets, living in absolute hopelessness and despair?
Chronic disease, bloodshed, horrific natural disasters, severe poverty, famine, unsanitary water sources, restrictive population controls, and societal devaluation of female children, have all contributed to this global tragedy of monumental proportions.
In the past hour…
1,625 children were forced to live on the streets by the death or abuse of an adult
1,667 children under the age of five died from malnutrition and vaccine-preventable diseases
115 children became prostitutes
66 children under 15 were infected with HIV
257 children were orphaned because of HIV/AIDS
Most children are under the age of fifteen and are…
Sleeping on concrete beds and rancid garbage piles every night – streets, sewers, dumps
Scavenging amongst human waste and excreta for rotting morsels and scraps to eat
Huffing glue and other substances in order to numb the cold, hunger, pain…and shame
Prostituting themselves for basic food and shelter
Trafficked and sold into sexual bondage, even at five years old and younger (see Sexual Exploitation)
Abused and brutalized by sexual predators, local gangs, corrupt police officers, and slum lords
Victimized by HIV/AIDS-infected men who believe that sleeping with young virgins can cure the disease
Recruited into lives of thievery, smuggling and drug dealing
Abducted to serve as child soldiers or the sex slaves of soldiers
Exploited as child laborers or slaves in sweatshops
Executed by local businessmen and officials who view them as a dirty pests interfering with trade and commerce
Sacrificed in occult/witchcraft rituals
Robbed of childhoods; Robbed of self esteem; Robbed of innocence;
Robbed of hope
What should we do? What can we do? We can adopt a child of our own! Just think how many orphans lives could be changed by bringing them in an instant FAMILY! One day they have no one, no home. The next day, they have YOU! We can PRAY. Real fervent intercession for them that touches the heart of God. We can GIVE. Maybe you cannot adopt....but you can give. Just think if every Christian financially supported adoption and orphan outreaches!!!
We even have some friends at our church that started this outreach you could give to: http://www.orphanshield.com/
Something to consider....something worth considering........
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
World Orphans
http://www.worldorphans.org/about/faith.htm
The ABBA fund blog-
http://abbafund.wordpress.com/about/
America World
http://www.awaa.org/whoweare/
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