We Help Care For 600 Orphans in the Central African Republic!

There are 600 orphans in orphan care centers we support in the city of Bangui, Central African Republic. CAR is home to a staggering number of orphans, largely due to AIDS, but also as a result of civil war and parasitic disease. In fact, of the 4,000,000 people living in Central African Republic, one-third are orphans!  A community in Bangui near one of our centers is built on a mass grave, which is poisoning the water, making the children in the area very ill.  Everyone, including Edmond, the orphan director over the Bangui centers, is heroically living life without many basic needs. Even so, Edmond lives and breathes caring for the orphans in his centers. 

The centers in Bangui also provide Bible instruction, occupational training, and tutoring. The teachers are asking for more food to send home with the orphans because they are not getting enough, but there are other important reasons to send food home. Many families forced to care for orphaned children in their extended familyare burdened by another child to feed when there is already so little to eat. When the orphans can bring food back with them, they are viewed differently, as helping provide for the other children in the family who are just as hungry, but aren't orphans. Food for Orphans is partnering with Vision Trust to send a large shipment of food to Bangui. 

The teachers are champions of the orphans in this region. They visit the homes of the children and check on each one, reporting illnesses to the center nurse, and exploring why some children have not been coming to the center. They, along with Edmond and his family, demonstrate daily what it means to obey James 1:27, faithfully caring for the fatherless and the orphans. They do everything they possibly can to safeguard these fragile, precious little ones, but they are facing enormous challenges.

Orphans in countries such as CAR deal with many more layers of tragedy and loss once they lose their parents. In addition to being a burden to their caregivers, they are often loaned to work for other families, which means that they are unable to walk to the center for school and their meals. Removing the children from the centers who are not being allowed to utilize the resources set aside for them is a very painful decision, but it seems to be the only way to let the orphans' caretakers know they can't use the orphans as they want to without losing needed food and support.

Please pray for Edmond, his family, the teachers, the 600 orphans in our centers, and this troubled nation where even the children with parents are suffering from hunger and disease. Please pray for the resources to send a large shipment of food and supplies to this area, and for God to show that He is the Father of the fatherless, and that He is faithful to meet their needs through those who have so much more.