I had the privilege to spend this weekend at the mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit. 400 of us talked about how we can help and what we can do about the crisis. It can be overwhelming. There are somewhere around 150 million orphans in this world. Many of them are hurting and unloved. They fall into anything from drugs to crime to slavery, sometimes even as sex slaves.
The horror stories are truly horrific. And when listening to this I was at first just completely overwhelmed. But as the weekend continued, there were two main points that everyone agreed on. The first was that every single person should do something. The second that we should start with just one child at a time.
Everyone needs to get involved in some fashion. There are multiple biblical mandates for this. There are so many ways to get involved, whether from adoption and foster care, or moving into orphan care. Ministries like World Vision and Compassion are great stepping stones into helping out.
Secondly, one child at a time. If we try to fix the entire problem for 150 million people, we will fail immediately. We need to just see how we can start helping. Start with asking questions and educating ourselves. And then see how we can get involved in a small way. We can't get overwhelmed by everything, but we just need to start with one. Changing one life will lead to changing many.
So what can you do? Today is Orphan Sunday. Visit their website. Secondly, I have a way that you can start helping. Visit Forgotten Voices. There are many suggestions of what you can do. Consider joining in helping to change one life at a time.
