🦋 The Orphan Gospels

What makes a country like Haiti so poor? Why are there so many orphanages? What can those of us from a place a privilege do to help in a country where the poverty seems relentless, systemic, and complicated? Are there better options than building more orphanages to help children in poverty? All of these questions and more are addressed in Shelley’s newest book, “The Orphan Gospels” where she wrestles with the complicated solutions to child abandonment and orphan care in an attempt to bring hope to the plight of the orphan both in Haiti and worldwide.

Quotes from Book:

“Where do all these “orphans” come from?  We say, well isn’t it better to fund an orphanage that to have a child die? Absolutely it is. An orphanage would certainly be a good plan B and a great alternative to dying. But I would say that there is another way. The ultimate Plan A. And that is for a child to stay with its mother.”

“Let it sink in that the kids that you have just held for a week on a missions trip and promised to support through monthly donations is most likely a grieving mother’s child.

Imagine that grief.”

“But what if caring for the poor meant acknowledging and offering a temporary reprieve from poverty while also getting people out of poverty—forever? What if full restoration is what God has in mind? Is that too much to hope for?”