Jobs and housing

A study was recently done and 15,000 formerly orphaned children in Russia were followed/studied. This number of 15,000 reflects the average number of teens that age out annually. The statistics were as follows:
33% were able to find employment
40% were homeless
20% were in prison within three years of aging out

If people are unable to find jobs, life gets very difficult. In countries that have a welfare system in place, there is a bit of a safety net to catch many. Unfortunately in many nations having no job means a lifetime of hurt and pain.

Imagine for a minute that you step outside of an orphanage at age 17 or 18. You take a look around and wonder what you will do to provide for yourself. You know you cant get a job right away but you sure need somewhere to sleep at night and food to eat. For many who have family and a support system in place you have some needed time to make these things happen.

When you don't have these in place, options dwindle fast. Many of these amazing teens who have already faced many hardships now have a new hardship, no where to have the safety of a home. Have you ever thought that a home provides more than a place to watch television, it means safety. Safety from the elements, but also safety from predators, whether they be animals or human beings.

For the 67% that cant find employment, 40% of them end up homeless. Can you sense their despair? When you become homeless, it is easy to take the next step to being hopeless. Often the only way to be able to eat and sleep is to do illegal things and this leads to so many ending up in prison. At times this may be petty crimes but for many serious crimes follow.

The streets can be a very rough place to live, especially when you are 17 or 18. It becomes survival if you don't end up committing suicide to end the pain.

As I have said before, if this were a problem that we could do nothing about then I wouldn't bring these things up. We can change things and as Christians we are called to get involved. As a follower of Christ we must take the lead in showing Christ's love.

Solutions are coming, are you interested in knowing how you can make a difference?

Suicide

Last night I began to share some of the real life statistics that impact many amazing teens. The teens I am talking about are orphaned teens. We often think of orphaned children as being babies and toddlers, which are certainly a part of the orphaned population. The reality is new children come into orphanages daily. These children get older and become teens and then "age out", and become emancipated.

There are almost 35,000 teens that age out every day, that means every 2.2 seconds a teen is "out". What happens to these amazing kids who have endured so much? Sadly for a number of them, suicide is too often the solution. For instance in Russia and Ukraine 10-15% of these teens commit suicide within the first year "out".

I am not sure how that affects you, but I find that very troubling. To think that this is the only alternative that many of these young adults feel they have is tragic. Suicide can be caused  by many factors, but often a common denominator is hopelessness. Imagine how hopeless it must be too feel that no one cares, understands, loves, or even notices you. These precious people often have no one to trust, ask questions of or encourage them. They have no place to lay their heads, no one to provide meals for them and they are all alone.

I know this is not the most uplifting reality, but it is reality. We as the body of Christ have a responsibility to make a difference. Too often I hear people say that they can't do anything to change this. That is simply not true! To do nothing is at best apathetic, but more truthfully is pathetic!

Hang in there with me as we discuss more challenges tomorrow night. Then after we look at three more  challenges emancipated teens face we will consider the solutions that we can all be a part of.

Statistics

Maybe you are like me and you like to look at statistics. I love to look at hockey and baseball statistics because they tell me something about who is playing well and who is struggling. No matter what those stats show, it really has no impact on me except for my fantasy hockey league.

The statistics I am going to share these next few nights are not fantasy, they are reality. Those effected by these things are not living in a fantasy world, these numbers reflect real people living in a real world, a world that in reality is very, very cruel.

I want to talk about emancipated children. Emancipated children are those precious children that grow up in orphanages or group homes that age out and must leave the system in place for them. In countries like Canada  the results may not be as devastating as the overall numbers. But as I often say, the numbers don't lie.

Here is the first statistic:
There are 153 million children globally that are orphaned children.
For many of these children when they age out they are released with nothing. They have no training, no money, no family, no resources and no connections.

Put yourself in their position, how would you feel and what would you do, where would you go and who would you trust? I asked this question of our "Global Orphan Crisis" world changers this past week and we all agreed it would be incredibly challenging. None of us could imagine that could ever happen to. Our own children. It brought tears to our eyes as we thought about the implications.

Here is the reality, every day across this globe 38500 teens age out. Tomorrow I will be sharing the reality of what happens to these precious children. At the end of this week I am going to share how you can make a difference.

Impacting an orphaned child

Have you ever wondered what you might do to be able to help an orphaned child to feel loved? Maybe you would say that you would love to make an impact. Well here is an opportunity.
I am taking a mission team to Port au Prince in four weeks. While there we will be ministering His love to three different orphanages that take care of almost 175 orphaned children. We want to love them well and let them know it is not just our team of 10-12 people but a bunch of others too.

Here is what I am looking for. I am looking for about 50 people that will write a short note to the kids that we can read them and leave with them. If you would also include $20 in the letter we could bless their orphanage with some extra money too.

Another way you could help would be too support a missionary. We have 5 people on our trip that need to raise their funds for the trip. Two of our amazing ladies going on the trip come from our community outreach locations. They have no funds to contribute but feel that God is asking them to go and bless others. They each need to raise $1500 and they presently have a commitment for $100 each. What a blessing it would be to show them we love their hearts to serve out of their own lack.

Consider what you can do, your note to an orphaned child, a gift to their orphanage, or the support of one of our two community based missionaries would be truly amazing!

Get active, be present

http://www.news1130.com/2013/01/18/local-mountie-helping-orphaned-kids-in-haiti/

I love this article, our Canadian Mounties stepping up to the plate to take care of orphaned children in Haiti.What is shows is that with a little compassion we can make a difference in the lives of hurting children around the globe.

One of the key things that was shared in the article was found near the end where the Mountie says: " One of the biggest things they miss is they don't get alot of loving." What is he saying?

The greatest gift we can give orphaned children is love. We need to not just say we love them or send money to solve their problems, but they need our presence and they need to be loved. I wonder what our own children would think if all we did was throw money at them and tell them we love them but never spend time with them. 

One of the things we need to be able to do is have empathy for people. If all we do is have sympathy and say "Oh I feel bad for you", it wont change a darn thing! We need to spend time with them and let them tell their stories and feel their pain. Have you and I ever sat down and listened to an orphaned child's story? If not, how come? Do we even care?

Today we ha d a seminar on bullying done by a guest speaker. At one point one teen who has been severely bullied for the last two years stood and shared how she has felt these past two years and how it has effected her. When she spoke and we heard, it changed how we understand bullying. It is the same with orphaned children, we must spend time with them. it is not my idea, it is God's heart!

This RCMP could have just gone to Haiti and noticed orphaned children, but he did so much more. he spent time with them, saw their pain, heard their stories and did something!!!