Orphan care goes hand in hand with understanding poverty. Why? Many–if not most–of the world’s orphans and vulnerable children have experienced devastating physical poverty.
If we tackle poverty, it’s possible to actually prevent children from becoming orphans in the first place.
Here’s an excerpt from a post I wrote for the Faith to Action Initiative, where I participate on the leadership council.
For many orphans, poverty is a common denominator. Some children become orphans because the lack of adequate food, clean water, or health care resulted in the death of one or both of their parents. Other children have been placed in the care of orphanages by living parents who cannot supply for their children’s needs because of poverty. Because poverty is a factor in so many children becoming orphans, understanding orphan care requires an understanding of poverty.
In fact, the Bible beseeches us not merely to fight poverty, but to understand poverty. Psalm 41:1 reads, ‘Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.’ (KJV) In his book Generous Justice, Timothy Keller points out that the word consider in this passage means “to ponder and have insight,” and as a result of this insight, “to act wisely and successfully.” In other words, if we intend to care for orphans, we must not only be aware of their poverty—we must understand their poverty, and act wisely and successfully to solve it.