"
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." - James 1:27
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second poorest country in the world. In the United States, 1% of all children die before the age of five. In stark contrast, 52% of all Congolese children die before the same age. It is estimated that 15 percent of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s
under-18 population are orphans - 770,000 of them orphaned through
AIDS alone.
Two out of every ten Congolese children orphaned.
5 million orphans.
Most have become orphans as a result of the ongoing conflict, termed
“Africa’s World War,” that has endured through decades. This war has
“left more than five million people dead, over a million displaced, and
many more, particularly in the east of the country, living in daily fear
for their lives.”
Orphans who can’t be cared for by extended families
are faced with a future in institutions or for many, life on the
streets.
This year, between the months of April and June alone, there were 71 attacks from
the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which is the party responsible in part
for igniting the country’s bloody conflict. The Democratic Republic of
Congo reported being on the receiving end of 62 of these attacks. The
LRA is known to use rape and dismemberment to intimidate victims.
The LRA is also accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex
slaves.
What a troubled nation in need of God's love, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The information above only scratches the surface, yet it's enough to break our hearts for the people of DRC.
In January of this year, we were given an opportunity to visit the beautiful continent of Africa for the very first time with Medical Mission Outreach's Kenya team. To make a long story short, the trip solidified in our hearts a personal burden for Africa, especially its most vulnerable - the children.
Shortly after arriving home, we completed our home study for the country of Ethiopia. It has been an extremely popular country from which to adopt, and our local agency has an established program there.
However, God had other plans.
In the midst of my adoption research, I had stumbled upon information about the Democratic Republic of Congo and its orphan crisis. Most of what I found was troubling. For a glimpse into the life of many Congolese orphans, I urge you to read this blog post from an adoptive mother who brought home her son from DRC in 2010:
Despair
Soon after the completion of our home study, we found out we were expecting Adeline. :) Because of this, we were told by our agency that we had to wait several months to continue the adoption process. This seemed understandable, but during our wait, the agency decided to change its Ethiopian program guidelines. Only families interested in adopting children over the age of three would be accepted as applicants. Because of this current phase of our family, because our children are very young, Calvin and I had already felt led to adopt a child from infancy up to the age of two. This change in our agency's guidelines was certainly a closed door for us.
Around the same time, through a random connection, we discovered DRC Adoption Services, an organization which helps to guide adoptive parents through an independent DRC adoption (with an in-country attorney, not an agency). To list only a couple of the pros - it will be cheaper, and the process will move more quickly when we decide to move forward. Everything now seems to be falling into place, and we couldn't be more excited.
In conclusion, please pray with us for the hurting country of DRC. Pray that the believers there would be strengthened in Christ. We hope that we will be able to connect with some of them during this adoption process.
And please, pray for us to have patience, wisdom, and provision as we continue this journey to grow our family for His glory alone.
