It will never be easy to go into someone’s home or life and try and help them with all their problems. Most the time something will always be missed. People don’t comprehend how hard it is, they think it’s a lot simpler. Many organizations seek to address the medical, social, and economic conditions that cause children to become orphaned (Brumley). They seek to specifically hit those points, the points that don’t specifically hit the full picture of what goes on in those unhealthy families and children’s daily life. There are many people who avoid orphanages. They push away because of what it’s known for and pay no attention to them and what some are actually about. There are various words or images that may be associated with orphanages, but they typically include: “Sad, broken, depressing, hopelessness, suffering, lonely, dark…” The list goes on. Once people see orphanages as a negative impact on a child’s life, they don’t see the purpose of supporting them.


A leader from a missions group from the U.S. stated in an article he was interviewed in said that they put their main focus on families and communities rather than orphanages (Brumley). His group believed that orphanages are not able to support children in a healthy way. His group being a charitable organization, it does not make sense to leave out orphanages, which is a group in big need. They are in need of support as well. According to Free Dictionary, an organization is created for the purpose of philanthropic rather than pecuniary pursuits; meaning to donate help and seeking to meet a minimum standard or well being to those with that certain need. Orphans are in need of standards of living, without the support that the orphanages get from organizations, orphans would not get these needs met. Also, Free Dictionary gives the definition of a charity group as a group “designed to benefit society or specific group of people. Its purpose may be educational, humanitarian, or religious. A charity goes beyond giving relief to the indigent, extending to the promotion of happiness and the support of many worthy causes.” With basic needs missing in an orphan’s life there is no way they could be happy. How could anyone say an orphan is not a worthy cause? A life is a worthy cause. According to Webster’s College Dictionary an orphanage is an institution for the housing and care of orphans. Many don’t know about a well ran orphanage. Those orphanages that are not supported will never know their potential. So many basic needs could be met in a child’s life when in a well run orphanage. Without the support that charitable organizations provide, basic needs of some in the poorest orphanages would not be met.


Many hold on to a stereotype of the orphanage with crumbling walls, dirty faces, and kids packed in overcrowded rooms, and abused children. Indeed, to some “In many cases the world’s 150 million third world orphans are better served by their own families and communities rather than by orphanages” (Brumley). It is true that many are unstable and unhealthy and an unstable orphanage means children may not have basic needs met. But that is not the case with all orphanages. People don’t see the other side of it, the side of how children live their life at home. “While abuse by strangers does happen, most abusers are family members or others close to the family” (Smith). Some kids are not always the safest at home. There are many orphanages with great organizations that have been helped by many groups, such as missionaries or other charitable organizations. The reason for these groups is to help get rid of what people think of the orphanage and provide safety for the orphan’s. In order for orphanages to serve and be able to meet the needs of the children, it is important that they are supported.
There are people out there that not only do not support orphanages but also do not support charitable organizations. “Two-thirds percent of the U.S. adults have less than positive feelings towards America’s charitable organizations and only one in ten strongly agree that charitable organizations are honest and ethical in their use of donated funds” (Poverty).Citizens around the world don’t know how orphanages can impact a child’s life in a positive way and that’s why they don’t sustain them. But at the same time there are organizations such as “SOS Village for Children” where their focus is to only provide the best they can for the children there. “Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world what every child deserves -- a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and care when disaster strikes. We save children's lives” (Save the Children) a similar organization.
Children in orphanages are deprived of many things. It can be simple little things but it can affect them in a huge way. According to an observer in a Mexican orphanage, when the observers group had handed out boxes with love and were full of toys and personal items “Their box was like treasure to them, they would take everything out, look at it, then put it back in the box….and do it all over again” (Dunn). Little things like this can make a big difference and in their lives, their self perception and help them know that someone out there loves them. When these boxes full of toys and personal belongings, it was treasure to the children.
According to “Maslow’s Hierarchy” it is a need in a person’s life. “Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs, or small social connections, they need to love and be loved by others. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression. This need for belonging can often overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure; an anorexic, for example, may ignore the need to eat and the security of health for a feeling of control and belonging (Maslow’s Hierarchy).
This is why it is important to have groups that care and are willing to help improve the lives of kids around the world and their basic needs. The supporters who give to these groups providence don’t know how much it means to them. Allowing them to go out and meet those needs. “The things we get to experience is incredible and that drive to help increases in our hearts” (Campos) a leader from a local missionary group. It is both life changing for missionaries and also for the people they get to help.


There are different types of charitable organizations; a huge one is simply being a missionary. The goal for most groups is to go out and serve, to help people and improve people’s lifestyle. Many missionaries help orphanages get started and structured, and start a foundation. It is known that when missionaries go out and find areas around the world that are in need, they often stay with them and help provide for them.


One thing that is commonly heard is that there are many people around the world living in hunger. “Approximately 963 million people across the world are hungry” (Poverty). There are families out there that are not able to provide for themselves. A mother from Africa states, “It was even difficult to feed myself. I just could not handle the painful sight of him almost always crying. I believe the orphanage was a way out” (West Africa: Protecting Children from Orphan-dealers).


As humans, everyone needs those basic needs in their lives. One of the basic needs is physiological needs. Like this mother from Africa, she realized it was unhealthy for her child and that it was needed for her child to go to an orphanage. Sending her child to an orphanage was a good step to help improve his life. “For the most part, physiological needs are obvious-they are the literal requirement for human survival. If these requirements are not met (with the exception of clothing, shelter), the human body cannot continue to function” (Maslow’s Hierarchy). Stable orphanages are able to provide food for children which is a huge indicator of how in many situations an orphanage could be a better place for a child rather than their homes.


Another big issue brought up in today’s world is poverty. Americans have no idea of what “poverty” means. “The poor in America live at an economic level far above the poor in other parts of the world” (Greer). “I’m so poor!” gets tossed around like it is no big deal, we complain when we can’t find something to eat. This really means there is food but because we are too lazy to actually make something we quickly assume we are “poor”. People need to stop and take a minute to think about what “being poor” really means. There are so many people around the world who literally struggle to survive every day of their lives (Greer). In order for this to change, people in general need to be more aware of what it actually means to live in poverty so that they are able to sustain the people that go out and provide for the poor.
Education is a huge factor in third world and developing countries. A lot of the time children are not able to attend school because they go to work instead to help the family. This could also be known as child labor, and it is wrong. Children in Orphanages or also known as Villages that are well ran focus on better health. They are also key on education because they know it’s a key investment of families, it helps economic growth and individual fulfillment (Education). Providing education to children allows them to have greater knowledge and it opens up different opportunities when they become adults. It helps them become independent and not have to rely on their families to provide but they can go out with their strength of knowledge and are able to be successful in life.
On a recent missions trip I participated in, my mind set unfortunately was not much different than many Americans. As we were on our way to Rancho De Sus Niño’s Orphanage in Tijuana Mexico, I shut my eyes and envisioned what I had gotten myself into. I pictured an orphanage built up by leftover debris and scraps of wood or anything they could find. I saw little kids dirty and in ripped clothes, dirty faces, broken and depressed hearts. I pictured a small foundation with a couple unstructured buildings with barbwire surrounding it all to keep the harm away from the children. I envisioned children surrounding and jumping on top of the leaders that could barely handle them. Essentially, the same perception of most Americans: “Sad, broken, depressing, hopelessness, suffering, lonely, dark…”
As we drove up in our vans everything felt unreal. Seeing several acres filled with beautiful buildings; homes, a church, daycares, restrooms, and kitchen areas. I was wrong.
In the last couple of days that we were there a leader of ours named Haudmi shared her testimony with us. She too came from the same orphanage; she grew up going in and out of the orphanage because her mother wanting her to work for the family to help support them. She shared how unhappy she was and we could sense it in her face. As a child, going in and out it was unhealthy for her, she didn’t have that desirable relationship with her mother. She shared that when she would come back to the orphanage she would feel good, she was being educated, fed, and cared for. That’s what a child needs, to feel cared for and loved.
All children Deserve to have basic needs met what any human requires in order to stay alive. Without leaders, charitable organizations, and foundations like this there would be no orphanage there in Tijuana, Mexico. Orphan’s around the world deserver having basic needs met that are required in their lives. These orphan’s needs would not be getting met without these people and groups.