This week's picture is extremely powerful to me. This is a picture of one of the rooms in the S.O.S. Orphanage in N'Dosho, Zaire. This orphanage takes in children that have been affected by the political and racial unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is stated that children die faster in the Congo than in all but 10 countries in the whole world. Most of these children don't have parents or families, and are going to die because of disease or malnutrition. If these conditions in the Congo, 515 out of 1,000 children will die before the age of 5. This orphanage takes in children and tries to nurse them to health and tries to make a difference in their life.
In the next few weeks, my sister Annie will have her third baby girl. She has two other darling girls and they are so happy. Because my sister is on my mind, this picture struck an emotional chord with me. I can't imagine what would happen if Annie and her husband suddenly passed away from a disease, or how it would effect the new baby's life if she had to be sent to an orphanage because her parents couldn't take care of her. Because of my beliefs, I know that the family unit is the center of the gospel. I know of the power that can come from a strong and loving family. It is terrible and extremely eye opening to see this picture and realize that these kids have no future, and that almost half of them will die before the age of 5. As always, I end my post with a moment on my soap box--we are extremely incredibly blessed. In America we have so many opportunities and I am grateful for those each day. Raise awareness about these problems and spread the word. We are blessed.
This was an awesome picture to write about. I love that the adult is lit from behind... it reminded me of the Savior. And while I didn't intend for this to be a religiously-infused comment, that's how it might end up. It makes me think of Christ when He came to the Americas and spent time with each of the children. This adult is tending to one child, and the others are all patiently waiting for their turn to be snuggled or fed or nursed, just as we will wait for our time with Christ. We can't ignore the fact that we have connections with these children; they are experiencing horrors that we will never be able to imagine, but we are all inhabitants of this Earth and children of God. The statistics you shared are poignant. It's ridiculous that people can pretend these things aren't happening in the world, and that they aren't affected by them. That's all I have to say about that.
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