Who will care for the orphans?

God tells us in the book of James that pure religion cares for orphans and widows. Since marrying Dave and realising the enormous orphan problem in South Africa, I've grown increasingly determined to do anything I can to help orphans. Dave has also become increasingly passionate about this part of God's word. It is as though marriage has helped us to more deeply understand what God has called us to as Christ's followers.

We would love to adopt as many orphans as we could care for, but currently all doors toward doing that are firmly slammed shut. They will be for at least another three years, and maybe even after that. We recognise that only God can open these doors, and if he chooses not to we will never adopt any children. This grieves us deeply, and has brought me to tears several times, but we can't give up on caring about orphans simply because we cannot make adoption happen.

This afternoon I have been researching two organisations that help orphans, which we could perhaps support through our prayers and donations.

I'm excited about Izulu Orphan Projects in South Africa, where we could perhaps even visit orphan households we were supporting. We may be able to further investigate the work of this organisation when we next travel to SA.

I've also been investigating the blog of Paul Myhill, who is based in the USA and has a focus on orphans across the world.

You may also be interested in Ithemba Lethu, an amazing organisation that Dave's former church began. Ithemba Lethu runs a transition home, from which they aim to return children to their former communities or place them in foster or adoptive homes. The babies there are fed with donated breast milk, the best possible food for them!

Please pray for us as we seek out ways to care for orphans. We would love to do more than "just" give or pray, but right now that seems to be the maximum we can do. Pray that God will lead us to more opportunities to live out his command.