by Carl Gann, OA Volunteer President and Co-Founder
It was wonderful being with our supporters at our annual Benefit in February! Thank you for your support. I spoke about the orphans we serve. The orphans are mostly from rural parts of Tanzania. They are born into obscurity and poverty, invisible to the world. Then when their parents die, it only gets worse. In the western societies, we tend to focus on our own issues and other big players in the world. The orphan children we help are silent to the world. They have no voice. Orphans Africa is speaking on their behalf. Their worth should never be relegated to last place in the world. All people have worth. Henry Nouwen, a priest, professor, writer, and theologian once said, “Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” Thank you for joining us on this journey of compassion.
