(Photo courtesy of Vision Beyond Borders)
Southeast Asia (MNN) – Christmas. In some parts of the world, it’s a time of gifts, food, and celebrating the birth of Jesus.
In many countries, however, poverty, war, and the struggle to survive have stolen people’s opportunity to celebrate.
But this winter, Vision Beyond Borders is giving refugee children in Southeast Asia a respite from daily hardship.
“Especially in the orphanages, within the refugee camps, it’s important to be able to take these kids out and celebrate and do something fun with them to get their mind off of all that has happened to them,” says VBB’s Dyann Romeijn. “Many of these children have lost their parents; some of them have actually seen their parents killed! So to be able to go out and do something with them and celebrate and bring them small gifts at Christmas is a huge blessing.
“We’re not going to do anything fancy, but we will take them caroling in the villages, we’re going to play games with them, we’re going to make Christmas crafts with them. We’re going to be able to sing songs with them and just demonstrate to them the love of Jesus both in the refugee camps and in some of the children’s homes inside of Burma.”
Since many of the children’s homes are run by Christians, Romeijn says many of the children are already familiar with the Gospel. The purpose of the trip, then, isn’t necessarily to share Christ, but just to be an encouragement.
“In the refugee camps, it’s Christians that are running the homes within the camps, so the majority of these kids do know about Jesus; they do know about His birth, so it’s an opportunity for us to celebrate that with them.”
Want to make a difference for these children yourself? You, too, can go on VBB’s trip to Southeast Asia. Click here to learn more.
