Orphans.

Luis, Amelia, and Afonso have been through more in their short lives than most people have in their entire lives. Meeting them was so moving. Their life started out with parents who loved them and quickly their lives became something that most parents only have nightmares about...leaving their children behind...alone.

The following are excerpts from a newspaper article about the life they now lead:

becoming an orphan hinders children’s education and nutrition, makes them vulnerable to abuse and neglect, and subjects them to social stigma, legal battles over inheritances, child labor, child trafficking, and prostitution.

“This is not just a list of sensational things that could happen,” Roby said. “These are things that are happening.” Roby also said that the extended families of many of the 43 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa want to care for them, but simply don’t have the means. Presenters at the conference agreed that the best way to deal with the orphan crisis is to make it possible for children to grow up in families rather than orphanages, preferably families in their native cultures and communities. “The answer, as far as we’re concerned, is making the villages capable of taking care of those kids,” said Lon Kennard, co-founder of service organization Village of Hope. Despite what outsiders think, many dying mothers view orphanages as the best care option for their children, because they believe that such establishments can consistently offer children food, medical care, and education.

Before their placement in an orphanage, the Belchior children lived in the roofless house their father was unable to finish building before his death. Fourteen-year-old Amelia told the audience about the day-to-day hardships she and her brothers experienced. They had no money to buy soap to wash their clothes and no stove to cook on. She described their dirt floor as being “very different” from the polished hard wood in the Hinkley Center where the conference was held. Amelia said that she watched her brother go door to door begging for food.

Life in the orphanage was also difficult for the children.

“There is a lot of sickness,” Amelia said. “All of the children, they get infected, because they sleep in the same room.” Disease, specifically AIDS, is one of the biggest factors contributing to the orphan crisis in Africa. Both of the children’s parents, and eventually their older brother all died of AIDS...

Sharon Slater, president of the Family Watch International organization, has been the number one sponsor of the three orphans.  She works around the clock to get their message and that of so many children around the world that suffer in near silence.  She is searching for answers and solutions to the issues of orphans that will enrich their lives instead of leaving them trapped in situations that they cannot be freed from.  Their country is trying to do everything it can to save their own children...but it's not enough.

David Perry has done a film about them.  You can check it out here.

I got to be be there the first time that they saw snow when they got off of the plane in Utah. 

amazing. LIFE.