This is a guest post by a TLC volunteer

We are living in a time where there is no more suffering than other eras – only more exposure to the suffering of others through social media where everyone has access to everyone’s news feeds. And so we feel overwhelmed by the ‘poverty porn’ of starving naked babies covered in flies. Of dead-eyed, institutionalised children days from death. Of visceral, dusty, bloody suffering.

Some of us saw it before we had Facebook and online news channels. Some people, like Thea Jarvis, saw babies in hospital beds, not because they were ill but because their mothers couldn’t care for them. She was cut to the heart and made the radical decision to give up her life so they didn’t have to give up theirs. She and her family ditched their own comfort in favour of making real change – as they have in the lives of over 800 children who did not have a home before they took them in.

To do this, they need help. With no income-generating business and their focus on saving and caring for these babies, they rely on donations of time, goods and money to help these babies.

Because of Thea and her family (and by family, I include everyone who has TLC at heart), we are able to post on our Facebook page, pictures of happy, well-fed, chubby babies, nary a fly in sight. Eyes sparkling with life, days from being placed into a loving forever home. A peaceful, dusty farm, with a green-roofed, yellow house full of children.

As someone who is intimately involved with TLC, but not living in the yellow house, a person who fell in love with being able to make a difference, I have slowly had my eyes opened to what it is like to live on the charity of others. The money, goods and time are invaluable, appreciated beyond measure, celebrated like the return of the prodigal son. But I have a challenge for us givers. You see, because the photos are of chubby babies with sparkling eyes, some people question if there is even a need to give, because everything ‘looks OK’. Yes, it does, because of the generosity of our village.

If that dries up, so do the chubby legs and full bellies. Cots lie empty and babies are not saved. Our photos show the success of having a community that gives – not the failure of a world to see the suffering of others. Our smiles and first steps show the development of our future generation, a real solution to the helplessness we all feel when we scroll through our news feeds.

So let us give. Give, secure in the knowledge that we are making a difference. Give, with the assurance that we are supporting a family who made the difficult decision to give up everything to make it better – so we don’t have to. So we can help, by helping them. Let us give.

TLC is all about transparency. You have the right to know where your donations are being used. If you would like to see a copy of TLC’s externally audited annual report, please submit this form. Also, come visit them! They are happy to give you a tour so you can see how their well-run farm works. Make an appointment here.