From Ashes to Africa

I finished up From Ashes to Africa a couple of days ago. It's an awesome read, moving and real, by Josh and Amy Bottomly recounting their story from early marriage, infertility, and then to Africa where they found their son in an orphanage. The story is truthful and hard at times, but one that gives hope all the way around.

I want to share this excerpt with you:

From there, I was led into a nursery where the infants were kept. What immediately stood out was the lopsided ratio between children and workers. For every eight or nine infants, there was only one worker to meet their needs. I was saddened to think of how many of those children weren't getting the stimulation they needed to develop. In addition, I was somewhat taken back by the heavy smells of urine, sweat, and dried feces that stung my nose and eyes. Looking down at my feet, I saw a dirty cot with ten infants almost stacked on each other, all swaddled in mangy blankets, some sleeping, other screaming. The nurse told me there was very little room left for the babies. It felt suddenly like I was in one of those commercials with children with bloated tummies and flies buzzing around their scabby faces, the kind that Sally Struthers hosts.

...I couldn't help but conclude, This is not the way things were meant to be. This is not the world God created us for.

This is still our world today. We need to make choices, no matter how small or large, but make choices that can and will make a difference to the least of these. Adopt a child. Sponsor a child. Buy fair trade products. Spend less on self and give to others in need. Be Jesus to those without. Everyone can do something.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27