Poverty. Restrictive population control policies.
Disease. War. AIDS. Disabilities. Hunger.
One problem gives birth to dozens of others. The casualties of the world's pain aren't just those who've passed on. The children who survive are left vulnerable and unprotected. Most of all, they lack the love, stability, and identity that comes from being part of a family.
But viewing them as a "problem" or an "issue" is to sanitize reality. These are not just statistics or faces without names or personalities. These are children.
Imagine being born in a world where no one loves you. Caught in a world where they are unprotected from abuse and where hope for a better future is nonexistent, the fatherless are waiting.
- Over 140 million orphans and waiting children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents.i
- Over 15 million children have lost a parent due to AIDS, and that number is expected to rise to over 20 million by 2010.iv
- Orphaned children are much more likely than non-orphans to be working in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service and in the sex trade.vi Orphans are more vulnerable and at risk of becoming victims of violence, exploitation, trafficking, discrimination, or other abuses.vii