So I have another video (at the bottom of this post) to share with you but this one is very VERY hard to watch so I will say make sure you have Kleenex handy to watch this (there is a happy ending though). This video was filmed in Uganda and there are more like it on YouTube if you choose to watch more. I hesitated to watch it at first because I have a hard time handling sad stories especially when it comes to children but this is the reality of what is happening in other countries and basically sums up why we have chosen Ethiopia to adopt from.
I know we have all seen the commercials and heard about how there are starving children out there. For some reason it just doesn't hit you until you see something like this. I look around at all we have and everything that we don't use or need and it makes me realize that if we took all that we have spent on these surplus of "things" that have been bought just because and instead spent it on food, clothes, medicine and support to build shelters so many lives could be changed. When Jalen gets sick we can buy medicine and take him to the doctors, we are fortunate to never have to wonder if we will be able to buy food to feed him or if he'll have a clean and safe place to grow up in.
We take so much for granted and we hear it all the time but what can be done to make a change now? We have made it our mission to cut back and save so we can provide at least 1 child with a better chance at life and hopefully in the future we will be able to help more either through more adoptions or by continuing to raise money to help fund the needs for many of these children. There are many people, churches, and organizations that are out there doing the same thing and some needs are being met because of this but just imagine if we all just gave up a little bit and passed it on to those who truly need it. I think a big problem is not that people don't want to give but they don't know how to or where to. Can you just box up your old clothes and some food and send to a random address in a third world country and hope that it will be passed around to those who need it? I don't know the answer to this but I do know there are avenues to help if you want to and it can be as easy as "googling" the words "help children in Africa" (or whichever country you choose). There are websites you can pay $10 to provide a mosquito net to prevent malaria as a child or adult sleeps, you can pay $25 to provide a water filter so one person can have clean water for LIFE! There are also people traveling back and forth doing missions and in the process of adoptions that are taking items as they go to hand out on the streets (granola bars, medicine, vitamins, clothes, etc) and I have come across all of this just by spending a little bit of time searching on the internet.
If you would like to help in anyway you can but need help figuring out how, let us know and we will try to help. I do have the Water.org link attached onto the right column of this website and will be posting more links so it is easy for anyone to find. I also have other adoption websites posted in case you would like to read what other families are doing. Some of them are pretty amazing and have influenced us as we begin our journey.
With Love,
Joely, Jason & Jalen
