icture yourself coming along with me to visit some of "the least" and "the last". Let us go to an orphanage in Meru, Kenya. There is a partially broken down fence around the place, so we are not sure of the purpose for it. Is it to keep animals and people out, or is it to protect the children? Nevertheless, it seems a rather useless guardian for the children. The entire place is about 80 feet wide and less than 100 feet long. We see a dozen small children.

These children are not running, laughing, and playing. We soon know the reasons. They have not eaten for three days. They have listless eyes and they are very quiet, almost silent, for a lack of hope and love.  Finally, someone emerges from a house nearby to say that she is watching the children. There are usually 100 plus children here. The older ones have gone with a lady to beg for food at churches and in the streets.

As we look at the primitive conditions for the children, we see some dilapidated shacks with broken down beds. We learn that four small children sleep in one so-called twin bed, and two or three large children share the same type bed. There are no toilets. The children defecate outside the fence. (We wonder if that is the purpose of the fence.) We believe that this is a divinely appointed visit so that we can buy food for the children. We pray for the children. We show love to the children. In the end, though, we must drive away.

 

There are at least 11 million orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the number is growing all the time. Some have parents who have abandoned them, and some have no parents because they have died of AIDS. Either way, they are orphans, children who are helpless and hopeless. Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we are admonished to care for the fatherless, the orphans. A few scriptures that you might want to read are Deuteronomy 14:28-29, Deuteronomy 16:2, 10-17, Isaiah 1:17, and James 1:27.

 

Mother Teresa said: "The greatest disease in the west today is not leprosy or TB. It is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love."

 

Life is all about loving, caring, and serving in the name of Jesus. Let us share the love of Jesus with "the least" and "the last". Thank you for contributing to the ministry for women and orphans.