!dea Camp - Session 2 - Causes & Ramifications

More notes from !dea Camp's discussion on Orphan care - feel free to pass it on to others. 

This is edits from Friday afternoon's talks & workshops. 

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// Adoption is a calling – not every one will or should adopt…

//  …BUT Orphan Care is a mandate for us all!! It is something that every single one of us needs to be a part of helping with.

TRAFFICKING

// Traffickers prey on the most vulnerable to make a profit – the loss of parents creates vulnerable children & teenagers

// Every two minutes children are abducted and trafficked

// There is a growing increase in child trafficking mixed with international adoption
- often when adoptions take a long time that is a good thing; it means they are fully investigating whether or not the child is an orphan and making sure they haven't been trafficked. 

// We are better at doing mercy (quick fix, see effects immediately) than justice (complicated, longer term involving systems such as religion, governmental and economic) - people need JUSTICE!

// 1/3 of runaways in the USA are approached by a trafficker within 48 hours

// Imagine if we put similar efforts into preventing children from becoming orphans

MALNUTRITION

// A child dies every 6 seconds from malnutrition – it kills more than AIDS and malaria combined

// The truth is that mums love their kids internationally BUT many are under resourced

// Where possible we should keep mothers and children together and support both of them to prevent orphaning

// In slums, at any given time, 50% of girls are pregnant. This is not a result of promiscuity but through selling sex to provide food for their families. Mothers will often ask their eldest daughter to sacrifice her sexuality in order to provide for their family.

// Every minute a mother dies through childbirth – tackling maternal health helps tackle the orphan crisis. You are 100x more likely to survive pregnancy if you are in the USA vs. on the African continent.

// Every 35 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS.

// AIDS isn’t an event; it’s a disease. And it’s not just a “medical” effort that is needed to help it.

// Ask better questions. Listen to the people directly involved in these struggles.

SPECIAL NEEDS

// The plight of children with special needs internationally is horrendous – political ideologies, sense of shame and warped religious views create a sense that those children are worthless.

// In America, when it is discovered a child has Down’s syndrome, 90% of those pregnancies will be aborted. While other countries publically scorn children with special needs, America simply covers up brokenness and pretends it didn’t exist.

PHOTOGRAPHY

// “Fly in the eye” photography (where we desire to highlight human poverty with a pathetic looking child” is simply developmental pornography. We are exploiting people.

// Ask yourself these questions before taking pictures in other cultures:

// Is this photo for them or for me?

// How does God see this person?

// How would I feel if I was this person?

// We need to listen to the people we photograph. We need to ask what is their story and then seek to help bring long-term solutions to their problems.

// Empower women to look after their families. Help them get a job and/or an education

// Train young people in an occupation or trade that will build them a sustainable future

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

// Children are made vulnerable in domestic violence situations

// Children are often “orphaned” by a parent that is around but is not actually involved in their live, or involved in a negative way (abuse, substance addiction). Though they have a “parent of record”, this person is merely a figurehead and the child needs to be cared for.

// Domestic violence affects both the children involved (educational delay, loss of innocence, parentalization, bullying, ADHD, over-achieving, eating disorders…) as well as the wider society (repetition of domestice violence, less graduates, higher mental health sufferers, poor relationships, teenage pregnancy, chronic disease e.g. depression, obesity…)

// Solutions to Domestic violence: face it and realise it happens everywhere, be available, know what to do, be an open door, find the root cause, educate yourself, collaborate, teach from church pulpits, support programmes, use your gifts. 

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What stats stand out to you? Anything surprise you? Thoughts?