Klein Family Blog: Christmas. A day to think about...poverty.

With all I have to be thankful for this Christmas, I can't help but think of those less fortunate. Particularly those that live half a world away in dire poverty, surviving on less than a dollar a day, living in fear of being raped, killed, or orphaned. I say this, not to damper the Christmas spirit, but to remind myself that Christ came to earth to live and die for me and for those living in very different world than me. Whether we're rich or poor, privileged in this life or not, we're all sinners separated from God. And Christ came to die for us all.

I've been reading this evening about the atrocities that have gone on, and are still going on today, in the D.R. of Congo. I'm sad to say that I've never heard of any of it until researching the country because we hope to adopt a child from there.

The Congo conflict—sparked by the Rwandan genocide and Rwanda’s subsequent invasion of Congo in 1996 and 1998—erupted into what’s been termed Africa’s World War or The Great War of Africa. More than 5.4 million people have died as a result of mass murder, famine, and disease born of the chaos.*

The Congo has been deemed "the worst place to be a woman." One of those reasons is because there are an estimated 48 rapes per hour in the Congo. Most people in the congo live on $20/month. The Congo is one of the most nutrient-rich countries in the world, with little to show for it because of militia driven exportation of resources. With all these atrocities, there are no doubt a vast number of orphans.

It is estimated that 15% of the Democratic Republic of Congo's under 18 population are orphans, 770,000 of them orphaned through AIDS alone. However, most have become orphans a result of the bloody conflict there spanning decades that has taken the lives of millions of the country's citizens. We're talking about 5,000,000 orphaned children here ~ about the entire population of Scotland.**

My heart is heavy with the truth of the reality in the DRC. I can't even fathom a life like this. Where is the hope? Where is the Joy? I'm certain it's even there, in such a desolate place, because Christ came, lived, and died for all and He is the true source of peace, hope, joy, even in the tumultuous of places.

I'm further inspired, as if I needed more inspiration, to pursue an adoption of one of these 5,000,000 orphans. This perspective helps me to know how to pray for our future daughter/son. I ask that you would pray for her/him too, and also pray how God would have you respond to your new awareness of the atrocities that are taking place in the DRC.