Leadership?

By the year 2010 there will be fifty million children in the world orphaned because of aids and conflict.
Sometimes when I speak to people over here I write down what they say; we photograph them and video their stories. This is one statistic I didn't write down. It shocked me so much it is ingrained in my head and plays over and over. Similarly the picture of the starving and homeless children we saw in Africa is one I don't need to show you or even recreate; you have seen it before and you know it exists.
What I hadn't thought of before is the global and economic impact that this poverty will have, not only on Africa but on the rest of the world. You've heard how the police in Peru deal with this increasing problem: they sweep it up. They perform mass "sweep up" operations whereby they gas the children out of the sewers or worse still they feed them rat poisoning so they die slowly and painfully like vermin, because after all that is how they are viewed there, and all around the world. Orphans, street children, child soldiers, invisible children, abandoned children, they have been given all sorts of different names but ultimately they are seen as nuisances.


I don't believe that any one of your reading this blog now is of the same opinion as the police in Peru. In fact I know that many of you already support children all over the world. The fact that you are reading this right now is a support to us, two people striving to help these children and make their stories heard.

Dwelling Places, The Vine Trust and Watoto are three amazing organisations all doing wonderful things to save these children from the streets and the hands of cruel, ineffective governments. So if you are not involved already we urge you to get involved.

Don't turn off the computer and think it doesn't effect you. Have you children? Are you planning to have children in the future? Will you be here in the year 2010! Yes, exactly it is incredibly soon. We're talking about three years time. What age will you be? There will be fifty million children homeless or worse still dead around the world. Don't think they will all just suddenly appear either. They are already here. You've seen their pictures on our blog. You know that there are things that we can do to start changing this process so that stops.

The Vine Trust works in partnership with Scripture Union Peru building homes for street children and educating them; they teach them the gospel. Dwelling Places is the home we just left in Uganda. They rescue street children and try to re-establish contact with their parents, rehabilitating them in the process; they teach them the gospel. Watoto is a village in Uganda which houses abandoned children. They place them in homes, each home has a mother and a maximum of 8 children. They educate them, care for all of their needs and teach them the gospel.

Teaching the gospel is a priority for all of these organisations as you can see. But how do they do it? They teach them it by living it! They are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and rescuing the orphans. Have you ever asked how you can be Christan's in this world and how we can start making a difference. Well now's your chance. Each time you do it for "one of the least of my children you do it for me" says the Lord.

"What difference does it make if it's a Christian organisation or not? Lots of people do good things!" I've heard this many times. Yes. but if you're not teaching them the gospel and you're simply educating them well think about this. You could be educating the next Saddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler and how much more dangerous are they with an education! Think about it. Surely Jesus' philosophy of "loving one another" is better then any of theirs. I know who I want to follow. We saw the news recently and people in Britain were moaning about Gordon Brown. We constantly moan about leadership but we could be doing something huge to change the future of leadership. God's raising a generation of children in Uganda and Peru (so far that's all we've seen) that love him and want to serve him. Leaders in the making. Leaders we're not scared of!

'N' here's the exciting bit. Remember that sickening feeling you got in your stomach approximately two minutes ago when you read the statistic about orphaned children? Imagine the feeling you would get if you knew that the figure had dropped to 49, 999, 000 and that the one less was the one you were supporting.
Imagine the feeling you could have if you read this blog in three years time and the statistic at the top of the page was shocking...shockingly good. That 50,000, 000 children in the world were growing up loving God 'n' serving him. Now there's a dream. The Vine Trust, Dwelling Places and Watoto are three organisations have started making it a reality. Be part of it!

www.vinetrust.org
www.dwellingplaces.org
www.watoto.com