Double whammy is like saying, when it rains it pours!
In talking with several orphanage directors in Tijuana it becomes obvious that they're hurting, and hurting bad. The pipeline of prayer and financial support from the U.S. has all but dried up. The romance and fun of U.S. groups from local churches coming down to Tijuana for a day interacting with these little Mexican kids seems to be over ... along with it, the joy it brought. One by one the orphanages are finding themselves forgotten.
Some are closing down while others are trimming down.
The long standing three way turf war between the drug cartels and police have taken a toll on tourism, compounding an already bad Tijuana economy. High prices and no work forcing good men to go bad. Stealing and robbery have become an ugly and growing reality.
Our bad economy in the States has hit the church and forced many churches to rearrange their priorities and regroup by dropping short term missions and outside ministries. Sadly these kids across the border have been one of the first to go.
These two hits, no groups and no income, are forcing orphanages to let many of their kids to drop school and return to dysfunctional single parent families or, more literally, the dangerous streets of Tijuana ... where a kid can sell himself for a few bucks.
It's hard to see our churches so close yet so far away!
Compassion? Is that word still in our Bible dictionary?
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