Vaccines being given to orphans in India, Pakistan and Africa

India (MNN) — Winter is beginning to bear down on the Kashmir regions of Pakistan and India, sparking fears of massive spread of fatal diseases in the millions of people still homeless after the October earthquake. Public health officials and aid agencies have launched massive campaigns to immunize affected children, in hopes of preventing another wave of deaths.

Hopegivers International has responded to that need with more than 500 vaccines for earthquake orphans, and by the end of November, they are sending in 50 truckloads of woolen clothing, blankets and tents to the area.

Children’s vaccinations are something they’ve already had concern for and have actively been doing for over nine years, says Hopegivers’ Dr Samuel Thomas. “We try to bring awareness to the people that these children who need to be protected, not just for today or tomorrow, they need to have a healthier life. We need to give them vaccinations that they’ve never had.”

Under the leadership of registered nurse Bobbye Golden, a team will be traveling to India in January to provide around 2300 children with live-saving vaccines. This will be the ninth trip Golden has taken with Hopegivers to give these shots.

Along with the vaccines, the children are taught proper hygiene techniques and are given toothbrushes, vitamins and antibiotics. Thomas says that it’s a holistic ministry to the least-loved, “Not only do we care or think about the spiritual need of these children, but we do care first of all to meet their physical needs. That is, vaccinations, food, clothing, education. That’s where we focus first. Once we take care of that, it gives us…the privilege to share the saving knowledge of Christ to those children who have been left orphaned and abandoned on the streets of Pakistan, India and in Africa.”

Hopegivers looks at each life as important, and they care for both the physical and spiritual needs of almost 9000 orphan children across India. Thomas says, their work is impacting the future generations of India, “The secret to doing mission work anywhere in the world, is not by reaching the older people. It is by loving and caring for the ones who nobody wants, the rejected of the society, the outcasts of the society, that are the orphaned and abandoned children.”

If you would like to help provide the funds for much-needed vaccines, or to sponsor a Hopegivers orphan, contact Hopegivers with their information listed below.