War and Children

In today’s society, many innocent souls are lost due to man’s selfishness. The acquisition of power has led to great turmoil in the past and many more today. Since one of man’s most selfish desires is to dominate others they think are less intelligent and powerful than they are, such desires have had major impact on many innocent people. Usually, war the result of such situations and mostly those who are affected by such incidence are children since they are less powerful and helpless to defend themselves. Today, many of these wars are fought on the grounds of countries which are considered less powerful due to the fact that they lack certain types of resources to overthrow “the powerful” country. Ironically, most of these wars are fought in order for the “powerful” country to acquire a specific kind of resources from the “less powerful” country.

The disheartening result of these wars are the effect it has on civilians especially, children. Since war leads to major problems in the economy of both countries especially the country where the war is fought, many people tend to lose valuable possessions and for some, such loss can be fatal. Children in such situation experience the worse impact because once they lose their parents/guardians; it becomes hard for them to have a stable living condition. In such cases, hunger and emotional traumas can lead to death among such children since they tend to be homeless when such incidence happens. Many children develop serious deficiencies which are mostly fatal due to lack of good diet (malnutrition). The deficiencies can also lead to disability. It is very unfortunate that many children have to experience such unfortunate events but as hard as it might seem, there is still hope for change. With homeless children roaming the streets, some tend to become violent, die and others develop behaviors to fend for themselves which can be deadly as well. We might not have enough power to stop wars, but we have to start somewhere to end somewhere. We can learn from other’s mistake and the impact and not repeat it. Also, there are many children around the world who are going through such situations so let us do the best we can to help.

Stolen Dreams

DREAM. I believe when we were kids, we all had some sort of dream that we hoped to accomplish one day. We dreamt of having the new toy or gadget in town, of growing up to be independent so our parents would not boss us around, and many others. We dreamed of things that seemed insane to others but to us, it was a dream with hope and passion that would come to pass one day. However, as we grew up, we disregarded some of those dreams because we realize it was vain or we could dream for bigger things. Homeless children, living in the slums of some third world countries might have dreams as ours when we were kids but unfortunately, they are dreaming of things that our parents dreamt for us when we were children. Their dream is to have a cozy home where they would not have to worry about bug bites, how cold it gets at nights, what to eat when they wake up and a place full of hope. A place that they would be assured that everything is okay and would be, so they should keep being children in order to blossom to be a beautiful flower for their community, and the world  in the future.

Aside from these dreams, these children may also have bigger dreams of becoming SOMEBODY. Unfortunately, it has become hard to trust organizations that claim to be helping children in such conditions but if one is strong minded about helping these kids, he would amend the wrongs. I also believe that not everyone is rich enough to go directly to a particular place where these children are suffering and help them but there are other trustworthy organizations that are indeed helping such children. With vigorous research and compassion, one can reach out to these children no matter the circumstances. Additionally, these children are watching eveything going on around them, and are learning from such experiences. Therefore, by helping them, we educate them not only to love and care for people they know but everyone. When they grow up in the future and encounter someone going through similar situation they were in, they would also reach out their hands to them because they would remember what we did for them when no one was there to help. On a last note, with them seeing their dreams become vain, they may end up dreaming of things that would not be good for themselves as well as the world as a whole.

The Reason Why I Care

    It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the sun is hotter than ever but you could feel the joy in the air because the kids are playing down the street. Among these children are those who have no place to call home or good meal to eat after an exhausting day. At the age of eight, they are adults and have to do the things our parents do for us that we take for granted. Amongst these children is a boy named Malik. He is now eleven years old but never knew his father and lost his mother to HIV/AIDS. His grandmother took care of him after the death of his mother but after she also died, no one was willing to take him and care for him. He then took off to his second home, “the streets."  Malik is not seen playing soccer with his friends on this faithful Saturday because he is severely sick and with no one to inform about his illness, he is now alone at his hangout in the slums ‘a place he calls home.’

Even if Malik is old enough or able to go to the hospital, the question is, how is he going to pay for the healthcare services he would receive as well as the medications that would be prescribed for him. Many children in third world countries and few places in developed countries go through exactly what Malik is going through in this scenario. The sad story is that Malik might end up dying due to lack of care or might be miraculously healed by God. However, with one person at a time, we can change the situation where innocent children die from situations that can easily be prevented with little care and affection. We don’t have to be related to someone to help him/her when in need. Many of these children are destined for great thing but without a helping hand to bring them up; they would remain under the ladder and never get the chance to see the beauties that lie on top of the ladder. ONE PERSON AT A TIME, YOU CAN SAVE A SOUL!!!!