November was National Adoption Month. One of the Sundays in there was "Orphan Sunday." I heard & read volumes about adoption.
All month I was bombarded with the messages:
"Over 147 million orphans in the world"
(The population of the U.S. is just over 300 million)
"Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out - without a family to love & support them"
"Every 15 seconds another child in Africa becomes an AIDS orphan"
It breaks my heart. I cannot imagine what it would be like to grow up without a parent. Especially in a country with no social services.
AND YET.
I look at the solution we passionately embrace. Christians especially seem to push adoption:
"Adoption is God's heart for the orphan."
"If just 7% of Christians would adopt, there would be no more orphans."
People gladly ask their friends for money, and do fundraisers, and take out crazy loans in faith to fund their adoptions.
The average cost of adoption, as reported in Adoptive Families magazine, was between
$25,000 and $35,000
Which makes me think about:
Amazima in Uganda, which offers the opportunity to sponsor a child. For $300 a year, each child receives an education, a uniform, two hot meals per day, school supplies, and any minor medical care.
Real Hope for Haiti, which can staff their cholera house for $10 an hour.
The Livesays in Haiti, who help save the lives of children who are dying of malnutrition. For appoximately $100 a child can be on Medika Mamba, a lifesaving nutritional product - and the product is produced in Haiti, creating local jobs.
Heartline in Haiti, which runs all kinds of programs to educate and empower women. For $500 a woman can go through the sewing program, and receive a way to support her family.
You know I could go on.
So I look at those dollar amounts - so expensive that few people actually donate.
And I consider that -when those same people are driven by the desire to add a beautiful child to their family or community, they will stop at nothing to raise the necessary funds.
... the same amount of money, that - if raised - could provide
10 Ugandan children with 10 years of education, food, and medical care
4 months of round-the-clock Cholera care
300 starving children with lifesaving nourishment
60 women with the employment needed to support their family
AND THEN I imagine that I am a woman in Uganda or Haiti or .... That I am a mother. Perhaps I am a mother suffering from AIDS. Or one who will die of cholera. Perhaps I am a mother listening to my children cry from the pain of their hunger. Or one whose children have stopped crying because they know there is no food. Perhaps I am a mother, looking at my children and deciding: which one will eat today? which one will I send to the city or to an orphanage - hoping that they are fed and educated. How does a mother choose? How does she survive after making the choice?
And why should she have to?
If I were that mother, I would be grateful to know that someone would take my child, through adoption, and feed him, and educate him, and love him.
But I would be even more grateful if someone would make adoption unecessary.
Why can't Christians gladly ask friends for money, and do fundraisers, and take out crazy loans in faith, and raise $25-35,000 to PREVENT ORPHANS? To keep families alive and together?
I recognize that millions of current orphans desperately need and deserve families of their own. I have been blessed beyond belief to adopt my precious son. I am intensely grateful for the many friends who sacrificed to help me bring G home. I am not trying to discourage adoption. Children need families and families need children. We should sacrifice for that.
I'm just saying - let's not stop there.
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