Orphans and Orphanages

An estimate of the amount of orphans worldwide is 153,000,000 according to World Orphans. The cause of a great amount of orphans is because families are too poor, parents are diseased, loss of parents, etc. A huge amount of parents end up having AIDS and chose to abandon their children. Due to the cycle of poverty, the amount of orphans increased rapidly through time. Every day, 5,760 children become orphans but 10-15 % of orphans commit suicide before age 18. Just like littering, children and babies were left on the streets waiting for a kind-hearted person to pick them up and send them to an orphanage. The growing amount of orphans has increased the crimes of trafficking, selling, sexual abuse of children. Once again, Africa is one of the countries with the most orphans in the world.

Stories of orphans: 

This little girl was abandoned in the streets of Africa, near a police station. Fortunately, the baby girl was picked up and sent to a hospital and had to lie in a crib for eleven months to barely be kept alive. She suffered from malnutrition and was diagnosed with HIV positive. The unnamed girl was then sent to an orphanage in March 2001 and was given a name. From that time on, she lived happily in the orphanage and lived on as a healthy child.
An abandoned girl can still live happily in an orphanage after her rescue...



In China, a severely burned baby was dropped off from the police car into a local orphanage. The baby boy Levi was wrapped in only a blanket with 10RMB stuffed into the cloth. He was immediately taken to the hospital and his condition was horrible. Fluid was coming out of his burnt wounds with a sick smell. Even if survived through the treatments, some of his limbs had to be amputated. As the director of the orphanage prays for Levi, they wait for good news from the hospital and a miracle to appear. Levi was then transferred to another hospital at Beijing Children's Hospital by a kind-hearted woman, Lisa. The physician asked a series of questions: "Why are you bothering with this baby? His woulds are so grievous, are you sure you don't want to just let him die?" But the family that wanted to adopt Levi insisted for Levi to take the surgery and would want to save their baby boy. Throughout the treatment, Lisa sat next to for days and night, reading the Bible next to the baby. The day of the big surgery has come and it was a great success. They were thankful for Levi and his successful surgery. Now Levi lives with his new family in America. :)

What you can do...
- instead of having your own blood related child, think about adopting one. it will be a big help towards the community
- prayer for diseased and homeless orphans
- REMEMBER: think before having a child

Sites: 
http://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/news/projects/world-orphan-week/orphan-issues/pages/default.aspx
http://www.sos-usa.org/about-sos/what-we-do/orphan-statistics/pages/global-orphan-statistics.aspx
http://www.orphanhopeintl.org/facts-statistics/
http://www.chinaorphans.org/levi.htm