"Another Level, Another Harvest"

"Another day for You [God] to manifest Your promises." So go the lyrics to a beautiful new song by Israel Houghton and New Breed.

Today, I find myself working at another level, on another harvest. This one, to advocate for young orphans in South Africa and get them adopted into U.S. families.

I was surprised to find that, since 1997, according to the U.S. State Department, who keeps such records, less than 20 children, total, were brought into the U.S. for adoption from South Africa. Having adopted a daughter from South Korea in FY 2003, one of 1,790 to find their forever family here from that nation in that year, I was surprised that the numbers for South Africa were so low.

So, I connected with a few of my friends and some of my LinkedIn network members to begin the formulation of a program to begin routine adoptions from South Africa. Two of my friends are flying to Johannesburg on Thursday for three weeks to meet with our orphanage program coordinator there. They will also be meeting with the U.S. Consulate officials there regarding this. I'm working from this end, coordinating and recruiting the appropriate partners, legal advocates, adoption agencies, social workers, prayer partners, and potential benefactors and contributors to this effort.

Our goal is to find forever families in the U.S. for 50 orphans from South Africa in the coming year. According to Africa's Orphaned Generations, a report by UNICEF, there were 1,528,000 orphans in South Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the HIV/AIDS-ravaged continent.

This truly is a day for another level, and another harvest, and another day for God to manifest His promises.

If you have any ideas or can help in any way, send me an email at adoptkids@spiderware.com.