Deaf Orphans

With Christmas coming up, I thought this would be a good cause to mention after a friend sent me the details... Lances Deaf Orphans is an organisation that is based in Kenya, Africa.

It is run mostly by deaf people who teach sign language, schooling and offer somewhere safe for the children to eat and sleep.

This is much needed, especially after all the post-election violence in Africa that started early last year. Since then, they have taken on 20 more orphans.

They rely heavily on donations of clothing, bedding, computers, educational tools and money to help the children to learn and survive.

Some of the donations Lances Deaf Orphans have received were matching t-shirts which is important so the children feel like they have uniforms and fit in with other school children in their area.

They have also received, skipping ropes and soccer balls. Other donations included a new printer and a cheque for $150. This means so much to the orphans and their carers, you can view photos of them enjoying their new uniforms and toys at http://www.lancesdeaforphans.com/projects.html.

Sadly, one of the orphans, Lavender, died from Malaria, they wouldn’t normally be able to afford a coffin and proper burial but with all the charity’s help, they purchased a coffin and gave her a proper burial.

Another girl had a nasty fungus growing on her head, they were able to receive proper medication for her and it has completely gone away now.

Lances Deaf Orphans had to build a new toilet or they were going to be closed down, luckily donations covered this as well.

They were given their first ever Christmas feast last year of goat and soft drink (it was the first time most of them had ever tried soft drink).

They had 45 pairs of Croc brand shoes donated to them for the orphans as well.

Most of their cot (camping) beds have been given to them as well, before this, the children were sleeping on the floor.

If you’re feeling generous this Christmas, or want to help someone less fortunate than yourself, think about sending the orphans some food or bedding or pencils or anything Australian children take for granted. Just go to the website and send the organiser an email and he will tell you how you can send whatever you wish to help the orphans.

You can read more about the orphanage and the work that they do on their website, just click on the link above. They are doing such great things and will hopefully one day enable these deaf children to grow up healthy and educated and pass on the gift of love to other orphans in Africa.

Autism – The Devil?

An American Autistic organisation called ‘Autism Speaks’ has released a very controversial video to raise awareness about Autism.

In the video which pictures real home video’s of children with Autism, a satanic sounding man is speaking as the ‘voice’ of Autism, saying things like – “I am visible in your children but if I can help it, I am invisible to you until it’s too late”, “I know where you live and guess what? I live their too”, “If you were happily married, I will make sure your marriage fails”, “Your money will fall into my hands and I will bankrupt you for my own self gain”, “I don’t sleep, so I make sure you don’t either”, “I will make sure that every day you wake up, you will cry, wondering, ‘who will take care of my child after I die?’” and “The truth is, I am still winning and you are scared and you should be. I am Autism; you ignored me, that was a mistake”.

Then it has the voices of all the parents of the children that feature in the video saying positive things like – “I am a parent riding towards you and you can push me off this horse time and time again, but I will get up, climb back on and ride on with the message (of united support)”, “Our capacity to love is greater than your capacity to overwhelm” and “We are a community of warriors”.

It’s a very powerful video and a lot of people have taken offense to it, with it’s release being protested by the Autism Community.

I think people can take this video two ways, it can either be seen as - Autism taunting everyone it affects and that there’s nothing anyone can do about it, or it can be taken as an aide to help bring people around the world together, to raise awareness to people who are unsure what effect Autism has on families, and to hopefully one day, find a cure, or at least more understanding on how to effectively treat Autism.

To view the entire video, click here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDdcDlQVYtM&feature=player_embedded

Once you've watched the video, i'd like to hear your thoughts...