From the perspective of those who live in a world of plenty, the prospect of abandoning one's child on a doorstep or hospital ward seems incomprehensible. We invite you to try to understand the crisis of abandonded babies by taking a moment to imagine the world of a pregnant woman with HIV/AIDS living in South Africa. Since AIDS-related causes are believed to claim the life of a parent every 14 seconds, it would not be a stretch of the imagination to assume she has already lost her husband to the disease.

Imagine yourself and your two children in a shelter made of corrugated tin and cast off wood:

• With no running water or electricity
• In the midst of a shanty town bursting with homes just like yours
• Food is hard to come by
• You are desperately ill with a disease that has no cure
• You are are expecting your third child any day

How hopeful do you feel about the future? You begin to wonder where your unborn child has a better chance...here, orphaned in the midst of a sea of poverty? Or perhaps on the doorstep of a nice house in a decent neighborhood? Or better still, left in the hospital ward where she will be born, in the care of doctors and nurses, where there are medicines and food?

We can only imagine how a parent comes to make the horrendous choice to abandon their newborn little one. Abandonment is a terrible choice for a parent to make. The circumstances of one's existence have to be just as terrible for abandonment to become a common occurance. Today, the situation and the choices in Sub-Saharan Africa are more than terrible. Perhaps it is a choice made in hope that we, the ones with plenty, will step forward and rescue that child. These parents are trusting us to step in, as they fade into the grave.

While there may be little we can personally do to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS, we are individually and corporately capable of rescuing its littlest victims. With nurture and love these orphaned children can be raised to bring hope to their country and to the world for generations to come.

The children of The Love of Christ Ministries are cared for with lavish love and attention. Even though their birth families were unable to cope with their care, the volunteers and staff of TLC shower these littlest victims of poverty and disease with generous affection and the highest level of care possible.

The cost to run The Love of Christ Ministries is approximately $420,000.00 a year. All costs are covered by donations to TLC, as there are no government programs to support their work. Salaries are kept to an absolute minimum as a necessity.