A couple of days ago, I volunteered at a film festival that
had the showing of a documentary called STUCK. It was about children and
families who are caught in the adoption cycle and the harm it creates. After
wards the executive producer- Craig Juntunen spoke. He shared that the problem
was political apathy. That faces needed to be put on this problem. That these
kids life’s, matter. He talked about filming in 30 different orphanages around
the world and how the universal language of an orphan was the same no matter
where they were at. The children would look, turn around, and hold up their
hands, as if they are saying “hold me”.
Make me feel like I Matter!
The average adoption costs $28,000 and it takes on average
33 months to complete. What can you do?
We know that we can make a difference. One person can and
does effect change. These children cannot wait for bureaucracy from various
governments on both sides of the ocean to get their act together. These
children cannot wait till adoption is affordable. These children cannot wait
till the adoption process has been streamlined to be made simpler and less
extensive in time frames. These children need help now. They need to eat now.
They need to go to school now. They need to thrive now. They need family now.
How can this be done when adoptions are not allowed in a country of needy
orphans?
I think it starts with all of us examining ourselves and
focusing on what we can do and not what we can’t do. Adoption is about
relationships. Most times that means with a child a family has adopted into
their home. But I believe this can be done in another way that allows
relationship with a child and provisions for their daily needs. Helping them to
grow and become what God has called them to be no matter what home or what land
they live in. This can be done through Virtual Adoptions.
The dictionary states that the word virtual means: Being
such practically or in effect, although not in actual fact or name- having the
essence or effect but not the appearance or form of. In another words virtual
adoption can have much of the same benefits of an adoption to a child only not
as we know it in the legal sense.
Why not help a child in need right where you are at and
where they are at? We have the technology in place to be in touch half way
across the world now. We can build a relationship and care for an orphan child
in need today.
I have done so for the past 4 years. For a little boy named
Courage. I have adopted his brother and sister a few years back however Liberia
is currently closed to adoptions which would allow him to unite with them. I
can either be upset with indignation or I can be proactive in his life and help
him where he is at. So I choose to be involved- now. He is my children’s
brother in Liberia. I remember him on Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, his
birthday. I pay for him to go to school. I care for his physical needs through
food, clothing, and medicines. I buy him things I would buy my other children.
Recently, I sent funds for a bike which was bought for him for his birthday. I
think of him and pray for him daily. I
will go to Liberia and walk him to school for his first day of preschool this
fall. He has many pictures of us and us
of him. We talk on the phone. Our family is committed to him. He knows us. We
know him. This is what I choose to do. And
you can too.
You might ask what is
the difference between this and a sponsorship program? Sponsorship programs ask for your $30 or more
a month and they give you a picture of a child and that is that. This is so
much more. This is Personal. This is a relationship with a child who needs you
in their life and them in yours. Its being involved in a way that does effect
this child and you.
Contact me- I can show you how.
“The Eclipse of Human Potential of an Orphan is
neglect”. C.J.
