International (MNN) — When an Iranian family flees their home to escape conflict and persecution, things will get better for them, right? That's what we hope for, but often that is not the case.
A family who moves to Greece from Iran may be unable to get jobs or provide schooling for their children. They can't leave the country, yet they are unrecognized by the Greek government. Illegal citizens have no rights, and if they have no income either, it's nearly impossible for the family to send their children even to a co-op when they cannot afford schools supplies.
This is the plight of millions of children around the world. Children who can barely afford schooling because supplies are unavailable. Children who are trapped in slums, orphanages, poverty-stricken or disease-ridden families. They all have little opportunity to acquire the supplies they need to get their ticket out of poverty: education.
So, many of these children simply go without.
This summer, Baptist Global Response is embarking on an initiative to turn that hopelessness around. And they're going to do it all through kids.
BGR's "Kits for Kids" projects is a partnership initiative with Lifeway Christian Resources' Vacation Bible School summer program to provide educational kits for BGR partners overseas who have requested them for children in need.
BGR has received requests from partners in 31 countries for over 138,000 kits. Requests have come from Rwanda, Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, China, the Philippines, Mongolia, Cambodia, Fiji, and many more.
Kids in VBS programs will first learn about the kids in need through videos and other interactive resources. Then they'll buy the materials and pack the kits with their parents' help, giving them the opportunity to connect with a child in desperate need halfway across the world. "They can be kids who care about other kids who don't have those same luxuries," says Darlene Parrish, Lifeway content editor for VBS curriculum.
The kits will provide more than an opportunity for privileged children to learn, and even more than supplies for needy kids. The kits may well also serve as a completely life-altering tool "because if a kit got in the right hands of a child, it might make them change their whole idea about education," notes BGR prayer strategist Lori Funderburk.
As the children see the love of Christ poured out on them practically, and learn more about Him relationally, complete transformation from death to life may take place as well.
You can join in the effort to connect the kids around you to the global mission field and to aid in the spiritual and intellectual transformation of other kids through this project. To learn more about BGR's Kits for Kids project and find out how to pack a kit, click here. In the meantime, start praying for the kids who will receive these potentially life -changing kits.
