The Oldest Ones

This morning, as I sat at the computer humming and muttering one of my favorite songs--"Sing unto God, sing a new song, oh sing praises to God give thanks with all of your heart; sing praises unto the Lord thy God..."--I felt a...tugging, if you will, to go "visit" (look at pictures of) the children on Reece's Rainbow's "At-risk of Ageing Out" page.  Wordlessly, I brought the issue to God, asking how that would help.  Then I got another tugging, this time asking me to share each and every picture of each and every child who is at risk of ageing out.

The children on the "At-risk of Ageing Out" page are the ones who will become too old to stay in their orphanages on their birthdays this year.  That age is 14 in China (and I think other Asian countries), 16 in Eastern Europe.  The healthy ones, or those who are HIV positive with no other disabilities, will go to trade schools where they will learn skills for menial, mindless jobs, and they will always carry the stigma of "orphan" with them.  The disabled ones--both mentally and physically disabled--will be sent to horrific mental institutions.

Now.  It is my honor to share these children with you in an attempt to save them from this fate.

"Dagmar":


"Francesca":





"Russ":


"Reid":


"Erich":
 

"Walt":
 

"Clarice":
 


"Zebadiah":
 

"Heidi":
 

"Garion":
 

"Calder":
 

"Benji":
 

"Blaine":
 

"Marty":
 

"Bree":
 

"Reign":
 

"Emil":


"Amos":


"Joseph":


"Isolde":


"Jianna":


"George":


"Trace":


"Yerick":


"Charlie":


"Shepard":


"Ezra":