Why adopt from the Democratic Republic of Congo?
When David and I were trying to decide which country to adopt from we began researching. We considered several regions of the world but continuously circled back to Africa. At one point we had even narrowed it down to a different African country. However, as we researched the DRC more and learned about the decades of conflict and the immense need there, the more we felt we needed to adopt from there.
To be honest, before researching this country, I had no idea of the atrocities and horror that has been taking place there for so many years. As I read about stories of children's mothers hiding them in the woods at night so that they wouldn't be found when rebels and other intruders came, and story after story of rape and torture, I couldn't help but cry for all of this suffering. As a mother, every time I read a story about a child who lost his/her family to war or sickness, or who had been forced to join the rebel army and kill their own family, I think of these stories being the stories of my little girl or my little boy, and again, I just want to weep. I wish we could fix this. I wish we could help these people and take away all of their pain, trauma and loss. But I can't. We can't. Not in its entirety at least. One thing we can do is help the children that have suffered and now do not have a mommy or daddy to hold or protect them.
An image that I think about often is a picture of a mother nursing her twin babies. Her breasts have no milk due to malnutrition and perhaps other illnesses. I cannot imagine not being able to provide for my babies like this. It makes me feel sick to think about it. I am sorry if any of you feel offended or that this picture is inappropriate. I feel it is time we are honest with ourselves about what is truly happening in our world. The media that so many rely on for world news is not reporting these things. Please read about the Congo and the stories of the Congolese and spread the word. Pray about how you can help, and please consider helping us to help an orphan have a forever family.
Some DRC facts:
In 2012, UNICEF estimated that 15% of the population in the Democratic Republic of Congo were orphans. That's 800,000 orphans! The decades of conflict in this country have left more than five million people dead, over a million displaced, and many more living in fear for their lives. This has been the deadliest war since World War II. More than 90% have not been killed in combat, but have died and are dying from diseases that are both preventable and treatable (malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition) aggravated by displaced populations living in unsanitary and over-crowded conditions that lack access to shelter, water, food and medicine. Forty seven percent of these deaths have been children under five!
Learn more about the DRC.
Learn more about orphans in the DRC.
