Orphans, Orphans Everywhere

Where are all the orphans? You read about the millions of orphans. You hear statistics on how they are going to die for various reasons. But you probably never see them. So you wonder if they really exist. If you are wondering where they are, I found them.

I’m in Kitale now reflecting on orphans. I’m at an orphanage that is our oldest CRF work in Africa. Two of my old friends and their family run it—Jason and Amy Beagle. There is nothing like being with an old friend. I was Jason’s professor. I performed their wedding. I was their preacher. Jason was my son’s boss. We just have a bunch of shared experiences. And I am so proud of how they give their lives to helping orphans. They just don’t come any better than them. And I have seen how with a long-term plan of help and some gifted leaders like them, there really can be some hope for these children. But so many others are not getting the blessings that Jason and Amy give.

Why are children orphans here? I have seen three reasons in the last couple of days. When I got to Turkana, I saw the biggest famine that I could imagine. There was simply no food. Many people live in this desert, and others have made a pilgrimage here from Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia living as refugees. After dedicating a well in one of the worst areas, I walked with the tribal chief to a big tree that had somehow survived. Under the tree were about a hundred little orphans. I didn’t understand why they were there. But he told me that CRF had been feeding them. I asked who they were and why there were here. He said that they were orphans, and their parents had died trying to get to a place of relief. So they community just dumped them here because it was close to the new water. People figured they would have a better chance of surviving if they were near the water. There was a woman in front of the children. She thanked me for buying her a blackboard. I didn’t know that I had done so. But she was teaching all these orphans on the blackboard about vowels as they sat there without parents hoping that CRF would continue to bring food. The chief thanked me for what we were doing for them. He asked me if some day they could have a better school. He asked me if some day they could have a church. Seeing our generosity, he thought it would be good if all of them would become Christians. We really didn’t do that much. The needs were so much greater than anything we had done. But I saw one way orphans are made. Their parents starve to death.

Next I went to Mt. Elgon. You cannot imagine the road up it. We had to have a special 4-wheel drive vehicle to make it, and then I wondered if we would. It is one of the most beautiful places you will ever see. Seeing the little grass huts scattered all over the side of the mountain made a breathtaking sight. But Mt. Elgon has not been a pretty place. It has been a place of war. It was not a tribal war with one tribe fighting against each other. But it was one tribe fighting with each other. So yesterday I met with a bunch of war orphans. There were 3000 war orphans just in the community where I was. CRF feeds about 300 of them. I’m not sure what the others do. They wish they had a school. They wish they had places to live. They wish they had their parents. But the stories that they tell are horrific. The psychological damage to their lives is beyond description. So many of them saw their parents killed. Their stories tell of what happened after the deaths. The bodies of their fathers and mothers were often cut into pieces by machetes right before their eyes. How do you get over this? I told them my message of “hope” as I do everywhere. But you wondered if they could believe it. It seems when a child is orphaned because of famine or disease that there is not much you could do about it. But the reason for these orphans seemed so senseless. War is so avoidable.  And if you are an orphan from famine or disease, it doesn’t make you fearful of people. But when you are an orphan from war, it creates an unhealthy distrust and fear of people. Maybe this type of orphan is the saddest of all. But what is even sadder, they are also living in the famine and surrounded by the diseases.

Then there are the AIDS orphans. This killer is still huge. I think people have heard about it so much that they don’t get moved as much anymore. But we still have a new AIDS orphan every 14 seconds. There still is not a cure for AIDS. Progress is being made. But unless we go the course over the next decade, we are going to go backwards on this pandemic. Samson and Ruth invited us late in the day to visit with their work. And at their little place in Marofu, we encountered a bunch of AIDS orphans that they were helping. They had to be the sweetest kids that you have ever seen. About 140 children met us at our vehicle singing. Over half of them had lost their parents through AIDS. Only about a third of them would be HIV positive themselves, but how were they going to make it through life. Where would they live? How would they eat? How would they go to school? And then you saw loving people like Samson and Ruth doing everything in their power to just keep them going one more day.

I’m overwhelmed with orphans. CRF was started to help them. I can’t believe the numbers. I can’t believe how helpless they are and yet how wonderful their spirits are. I am thankful for the people here like the Beagles, Francis, Emmanuel, and Ruth and Samson who give every day of their lives to do everything they can in their lives to help these kids. I’m thankful for donors who read blogs like this who give to save these children’s lives. Orphans are there. They are more than pictures on late night cable channels. No, you can touch them.