It’s an unfortunate fact of life that orphanages are necessary. But the thing that hurts my heart is when children live in orphanages because their parents are simply too poor to take care of them.
In Thailand, one of our goals is to stop children from entering an orphanage if we can prevent it by helping the parents. Their needs are so basic because they have so little. This has led us to develop an Orphan Prevention Program.
This consists of: training parents in Biblical Entrepreneurship, teaching them to create business plans, providing micro-enterprise loans to help start the businesses, helping with basic necessities (food, clothing) until the parents get on their feet, and helping children get an education (computers, English, Biblical life skills).
Thanks to these small steps, children will be able to remain in their own homes with their families. It may not be an ideal situation, but it is the one that they know and cling to. Children don’t truly understand being poor, especially when they’re surrounded by others in the same condition. What they realize is the love of their families.
How many times have you heard someone say, “we were dirt poor, but I didn’t realize it at the time, we were all in the same boat and I loved my Mom and Dad.”
As parents, of course, we realize it only too well. Imagine the despair of being so poor that you had to give up the children you love because you couldn’t provide food and shelter. It is one of our goals to prevent this from happening, would you like to help us? Give now
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