Orphans First Prayer Requests 19th April, 02

FRANCE
        Two small young girls have been ripped away from their foster
parents in France.  Why?  They receive too much affection.  This is a
typical scenario in France where the policy is for foster parents to remain
distant, unattached, and especially to not demonstrate affection to the
children they care for.  Please pray for these two little girls, for
Jean-Luc (now 15) and for all the children in similar situations.

ADOPTIONS
        Continue praying urgently for the adoptions mentioned recently,
especially Valery.

ITALY
        We're traveling to Italy.  Hope to present O.F. there.  Pray for
that time and our continued  evangelism and church plant project.

TRAGEDY - children raped
        In France, a young Muslim girl was raped by her uncle so as to
continue the family line.  She's pregnant, and she's also a "slave" to her
family. 
        Below is the very tragic story of what is happening in Africa
regarding children being raped, even babies.  Please read and pray.

CONTINUE please, to pray for all the other requests sent out these past few
weeks.  Thanks so much for keep knocking on Heavens doors.

        Scroll down and read on for
article..................................

Infinitately grateful to you for caring,

Janey L. DeMeo
Founder/director of Orphans First, freelance writer.
ORPHANS FIRST website:  http://www.OrphansFirst.org/
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Friday, February 15, 2002              CHILD RAPE - A Cry From Africa
Shocking New Statistics Reveal Dramatic Rise In Child Rape In Sub-Saharan 
Africa

[Unable to display image] by Eric Wayman      Special Correspondent to
Assist News Service

Costa Mesa, CA  (ANS) -- An appalling epidemic of child rape is emerging in

sub-Saharan Africa. This region, roughly the lower one-third of the African

continent, is all ready being decimated by AIDS. Now recent crime
statistics 
reveal a growing epidemic of rape involving young children.

According to a recent report by the South Africa Police Service, children 
(under the age of 18) are the victims of 41 percent of all reported rapes
and 
attempted rapes. Even more disturbing is the fact that over 15 percent of
the 
total reported rapes are against children under 11 years of age. In the
year 
2000, an average of 58 children were raped every single day. 

[Unable to display image]
(Pictured: Seven-year-old girl from Gwayi River, Zimbabwe faces difficult 
future.)

The South African Press Association reported one incident in which a 
nine-month-old baby girl was gang raped and required a full hysterectomy
plus 
further surgery in order to repair intestinal damage. Six men, between the 
ages of 22 and 66, were charged with rape and indecent assault against the 
infant. 

She is just one of 21,538 rapes and attempted rapes against children
reported 
in 2000. This marks a dramatic 300% rise in reported cases from 1994 (7,559

cases reported). However, despite this staggering increase in reported
child 
rape, authorities believe that a large percentage of incidents still go 
unreported. 

The AIDS epidemic has left an unprecedented number of children parentless
and 
vulnerable to abuse. Henry Nel, executive director of the ROCK of Africa 
Mission in Zimbabwe, states, "We are seeing a tragic devaluation in the
lives 
of little children. The life of a precious little girl is becoming mere 
medicine for a dying man." 

Today, in Zimbabwe, over one-third of all adults are infected. A woman has
an 
average lifespan of just 36 down from 65 just ten years ago. In five years 
experts say the life expectancy could drop as low as 27. Yet despite the 
rampant spread of the virus and its tragic impact on sub-Saharan Africans
of 
all ages, many are denying the disease's very existence. 

"There is a deadly element of mistrust of western culture," Nel explains.
"An 
acronym for AIDS, American Information to Destroy our Sexuality,
demonstrates 
this. We must train and equip local people to deliver the real truth about 
AIDS." 

Among the most important things Christian relief organizations bring to 
suffering sub-Saharan Africans is truth and hope. Herschel Gulley,
president 
of The Gulley Foundation of Peru Indiana, asserts, "Missions, churches and 
Bible schools have become vital emergency clinics of hope in this desperate

region." 

[Unable to display image]
(Pictured: Glen Megill, ROCK of Africa Mission President with Mission
Pastor 
Bizeki Chirongo.)

Glen Megill, president of ROCK of Africa Mission, asks, "Can condoms bring 
hope to a dying man?   No.  If we cannot bring hope, we cannot really help.

Any solution absent Jesus, His plan for our lives, His comfort for our pain

is totally inadequate. Jesus is the real medicine for this weary land. The 
United Nations is obviously not equipped for this task. Instead, the church

must respond." 

Will the church hear this cry from Africa? 

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