Abandoned children are the most helpless and most frequent victims of violence, disease, malnutrition and death. Without the support from their families, these children are exposed to the frightening dangers of abduction and sexual exploitation. |
Lubuto
Recently a little boy was brought to one of our orphanages in Zambia. He was estimated to be between two and three years old, but because he was so malnourished it was hard to know his exact age.
The police found him wandering around the crowded bus station in the city center. They thought he had been abandoned the day before and had spent the entire night alone hiding in the waiting area where buses load and unload passengers.
He could not speak, so he was given the name Lubuto (which means “light”). For the first few days he just clung to anyone who would hold him.
His sadness and fear is disappearing and every day he looks more and more like a healthy little boy. He may never be reunited with his relatives, but he is loved and cared for in the “family” of the orphanage he was delivered to, and may be welcomed into an adoptive family all his own some day. |
Many of these orphans have been traumatized by witnessing the ruthless murder of their parents or by helplessly watching them die of AIDS or starvation. Alone, with no one to raise them, abandoned children must resort to eating any scraps available and wandering the streets.
Emotionally and physically scarred, the future for these orphans is a bleak reminder of lost hope. |
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