“An Estimated 27,000 Children Died Today”. This is a headline you will not read in our daily newspapers, but it is true. 27,000 children under the age of 5 died yesterday; another 27,000 are dying today; 27,000 more will die tomorrow. This number is staggering. In 2003 alone, 10.6 million children died, equaling the total child population of France, Germany, Greece, and Italy combined. Most of these were due to absolutely preventable causes, such as a lack of access to clean drinking water or a lack of access to immunizations and basic medical care. Poverty is a pandemic in our world today and most people in our society have absolutely no idea that 3 billion people, nearly half of our world’s population, lives daily on less than what we spend on a single cup of coffee.
The ramifications of such wide-spread poverty reach to every level of the societies that are most drastically affected by it. I purposefully say “…the societies that are most drastically affected by it” because in our society, we can change the TV channel to avoid looking at the starving child. In our society, we can avoid eye contact with the homeless person we pass on the street. And in our society, we can choose to take a different route home rather than through the poor neighborhood that would cause our convictions to arise. With little to no access to the basic provisions of life, entire people groups are left in continual cycles of despair because others choose to purposefully live in ignorance.
Many living in these conditions actually report that the sense of hopelessness is the hardest battle to fight on a daily basis. This is because even worse than physical poverty is spiritual poverty, being separated from the One living and true God. This poverty can not be overcome through any riches that may befall. Jesus Christ came to rescue His children from poverty, to give them a new hope and a new life. When walking this earth, these poor were the ones he associated with. The orphan, the widow, the tax collector, the prostitute…these were among those he called friends. As Christians, it is our responsibility to care for those in need, bringing good news to the hopeless.
Orphan & Widow is a ministry based out of Birmingham, AL that is committed to raising awareness of poverty as well as raise support and funds for those who are bringing the hope of the Gospel to the ones in the deepest despair. The primary means through which this is accomplished is through the photography branch of the ministry that is solely driven on donations to support missionaries and national Christians plodding the soil on difficult land. If you are interested in learning more about this ministry, would like to know how you can become involved, or would like to book a photography session, please shoot an email to
info@orphanandwidow.org. You can also follow our blog at www.orphanandwidowministries.blogspot.com.
Thank you for your interest and for your partnership in the Gospel,
Lauren Webber