The Silent Pandemic

The World Health Organization has declared a Level 6 global pandemic for H1N1, otherwise known as the Swine Flu.

As of June 27, there were more 59,000 cases of H1N1 in 110 countries. The number of deaths attributed to this outbreak is approaching 300 worldwide. More than 80 of those in the U.S.

The Swine Flu is nothing to sneeze at. I saw this in the Washington Post ...

"According to the WHO, seasonal flu kills 250,000 to 500,000 people globally. In the United States, there are about 36,000 deaths a year. The 1968 Hong Kong flu pandemic killed 1 million people worldwide. "

But there is another crisis that remains out of sight and out of mind. It is the global pandemic of orphans.

There are more than 140 million orphans around the world. 42,000 new orphans each day. One every 2 seconds. That is 30 since you started reading ... if you are a fast reader. Those are big numbers.

And consider this in perspective to the Swine Flu "crisis." Since the outbreak of the H1N1, more than 2.5 million orphans have died. That is a tragic number.

It's time to do something about the orphaned and abandoned children. We must give a voice to this silent pandemic.

For us, the journey begins tomorrow when we head to Kenya and Malawi for two weeks. We won't be able to save them all. But we can rescue some. And every one that is not a statistic makes a difference.

Won't you join us?