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Rainbows of HOPE

Millions of children in crisis are suffering pain and trauma as a result of events beyond their control: war, abusive home situations, poverty, abandonment, HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation, being forced to live on danger-filled city streets, working long, hard days in sweatshops or simply being a girl-child.

It is not God's desire that children should be so victimized. Rather, God intended the gift of childhood to be a special time for children: a brief period in their lives when they could be free of adult-sized responsibilities and problems. With this freedom, childhood could be focused on nurturing the children's God-given gifts and abilities.

Children in crisis, however, are robbed of this special time. Instead of enjoying experiences that help develop their God-given gifts and abilities, their childhood centers around experiences that result in tremendous loss, including the loss of:

• Home, along with parental love and nurture
• Innocence and self-respect
• Opportunities for education
• Security and a sense of safety
• Physical wholeness
• Identity, status, and self worth
• Belonging, leaving the children unattached
• The ability to trust
• Basis necessities such as food and hygiene
• Hope, often stated by the children as the most devastating loss.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11