Orphans in northern Uganda

For all of Uganda in 2005:

Percentage of children who are orphans in 2005 14%

Number of orphans due to AIDS in 2005 1,000,000

Children orphaned by AIDS as a percentage of all orphans in 2005 45%

Percentage of children aged 12-17 who are orphans in 2005 25%

UNICEF: 'Africa's Orphaned Generations' (2003), and 'Africa's Orphaned and Vulnerable Generations: Children Affected by AIDS' (2006).

What I find especially striking is that these are 2005 numbers, representing ALL of Uganda, not simply the north. The war was not even over in 2005. So these numbers are surely higher now and especially higher in the north. There's an estimate that 20% of the total child population are orphans in Uganda. I tried a theory out on some people and no one disagreed: you cannot find one family in Acholi-land who is not caring for orphans. (This relates also to my prior post - a family will care for their own paternally-blood relatives if they are able.)

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Family of Three!

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The Foolishness of God's Calling

A friend shared with me how "strange" (and scary) our decisions appear to those observing our lives. Most people are barely surviving residency and then for me to decide to adopt, to decide to adopt a child with special needs, to decide to adopt this child from the uncertainty of Liberia, to decide to start my Master's of Public Health during residency... it all seems crazy and overwhelming to the observer. But what my friend did not take into account is that God's calling on our lives will not always appear sane. Our choices are neither noble nor insane if they are what God has called us to. These choices are simply obedience to sovereign God! We are not living for life in this world, we are in fact aliens to this world and shouldn't settle down and get too comfortable because our joy is in heaven. God calls each of us to "not waste our lives" but live each day with an eternal focus. With an eternal focus, we should not only adopt a child with disabil...

Rattins living Coram Deo

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