Drupal

It seems to be a universal concern. Whether I am at home in Western Michigan or in Belize, Honduras, or Africa, the concern of teenage girls becoming pregnant and raising babies is evident. Our young ladies are becoming moms way too soon – leaving behind their innocence, childhood and adolescence, and taking on adult responsibility before it is fair. These young ladies need their youth – they need their freedom. They now need our help. The other concern that is cross-cultural and in every country is the way young men avoid fatherhood and responsibility. For every baby there is a dad but for every family there doesn’t seem to be a father. Before we become critical and judgmental, let’s ask, ‘Why do these young men feel absolved from the task of keeping the women and children in their lives safe?’ How have we communicated to the young men of our world that “you can have sex and walk away – only to have sex with another young girl?” They have heard this message somewhere. If nothing else, they haven’t heard the message about responsibility, the joys of manhood and fatherhood, and the fun being a dad is. In West Michigan and in most parts of the USA, young moms can get assistance, at least materially. They are not being mentored and cared for by older women and their children are not receiving wholesome and healthy love from Godly men.  But that is another blog … In most other parts of the world, however, most teenage moms are on their own and often leave their kids at an orphanage – forced to say goodbye to a baby they will never see again. These young ladies then deal with pain and guilt the rest of their lives as they wonder about the outcome of their babies’ lives. This is what I saw in Honduras – all over. This is the issue the pastors talked to me about the most.   They asked, “How can we help the teenage moms?”  “How can we teach young men to do the right thing and care for their kids?” “How can we teach our youth to stay pure – or at least to use contraception?”  Where there is sexual promiscuity, there is not only pregnancy but also terminal diseases. Honduras has the highest HIV infection rate of a typical developing country. We can help with this. We have seen teen pregnancy rates go down in the USA and in West Michigan. Studies show that teens having sex is going down. We know how to do this. We need Spanish speaking people passionate about caring for teens so that they avoid sexual activity and retain their youth and purity. Is that you? It might be …