Throughout the world tragedy separates parentsfrom children leaving the broken lives of little ones who need caring people to intervene and change their paths. As the love of people grows colder, stories of terrible circumstances are everywhere. How bad is it? Here are some facts to keep you informed.
- Fact: Nearly 144 million children across the world are orphans.
- Fact: Every 2 seconds, another orphan dies from malnutrition.
- Fact: 87.6 million orphans live in Asia. 43.4 million Orphans live in Sub-Saharan Africa. 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Fact: 6,000 children are orphaned by AIDS every day. That is newly orphaned child every 14 seconds.
- Fact: Around the global, 15,200,000 children have been orphaned by the AIDS crisis. If all these children held hands, they would stretch across the United States. By 2011, this virtual chain will reach around the world.
- Fact: Malnutrition plays a part in more than half of all child deaths worldwide. Every year, malnutrition is associated with the deaths of five million children under the age of five.
- Fact: Even more often, malnutrition cripples children's growth, renders them susceptible to disease, dulls their intellects, and diminishes their motivation and their productivity.
- Fact: India has more orphans than any other nation, totaling 35,000,000 in 2003; nearly 1 out of 10 of India's children are orphans.
- Fact: In India, one out of two children under the age of 5 is underweight.
- Fact: Millions of children suffer from micronutrient malnutrition, when the body lacks essential minerals and vitamins. These deficiencies can lead to severe mental or physical impairment, life-threatening anemia, lowered productivity, blindness, a weakened immune system.
- Fact: 854 million people do not have enough to eat - more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union.
- Fact: By 2020, southern Africa will lose one out of every five agricultural workers to AIDS. With a shrinking labor force, food is harder and harder to come by in areas that need it most.
- Fact: In like sub-Saharan Africa, where up to 20% of the adult population has been impacted by AIDS, orphaned children not only lose their parents but also teachers, health workers and civil servants who die of the disease.
- Fact: Sub-Saharan Africa has the greatest portion of children living as orphans. In 2003, there were 43,400,000 children with no living parent. This number represents 12% of the region's children.
- Fact: It is estimated that by the year 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa alone, more than 18 million children – more than all the children in the United Kingdom, will have lost at least one parent to AIDS.
- Fact: Every week, AIDS claims as many lives as American fatalities in the Vietnam War.
- Fact: By 2010, the total number of orphans, from all causes, in Sub-Saharan Africa will increase to 50,000,000.
What can you do? - What are Rice Bowls?
Rice Bowls are your way to impact the global orphan crisis. As the number of vulnerable children continues to rise as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, your organization can respond in a tangible way.
Rice Bowls are essentially small plastic piggy banks in the shape of a full bowl of rice. They are provided to your organization free of charge, along with information for your Rice Bowls campaign. Since rice is a dietary stable for much of the world, this design reminds participants of at risk children around the world that are in need of your partnership.
Any organization – church, school, business, or community group – can distribute these bowls to their members. Then, members fill the bowls with loose change. Once they are returned to you and the money has been counted, funds are sent Rice Bowls where they are distributed to our international network of loving, Christian orphanages.
Rice Bowls is a simple, yet extremely effective, way to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children. Since 1980, Rice Bowls have raised tens of millions of dollars to provide food around the world. Today, your spare change can change the life of a child.
Order entry, distribution, and some additional duties for Rice Bowls are made possible by donation. This allows us to give more of the funds received directly to our Orphanage Partners, maximizing your impact on the international orphan crisis. Please see our financial accountability section for additional stewardship information.