Jezebel: Orphans

Man Hacked in the Face Defending an Orphanage Justifiably Rewarded

Erin Gloria Ryan — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST

A few days ago, a Kenyan man named Omari was released from the hospital after recovering from injuries sustained while defending an orphanage from a band of roving thugs— by himself. They slashed him in the face with a machete, leaving him with a large wound that required stitches. After the incident, a founder of the Longonot Education Initiative appealed to community members of Reddit, asking for $2,000 so the orphanage could build a wall to protect them. A modest request for a worthy cause. So, how much did they raise for Omari and the orphanage? More »

Models Giving Hope To Orphans In Haiti

Jenna Sauers — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:30:00 EST

Last night at Milk Studios in New York City, models Coco Rocha and Behati Prinsloo screened this film about their post-earthquake humanitarian trip to Haiti. It's 23 minutes long, but well worth a look. As is Lakay Pam, the charity Prinsloo and Rocha opted to work with, which runs orphanages, schools, and extra-curricular sports clubs for some of Haiti's poorest children. Haiti had an estimated 380,000 orphans before last January's devastating earthquake; since the disaster, that number has more than doubled, to nearly 1 million. Watch as Rocha and Prinsloo, along with Cedric Roche of Lakay Pam, and Rocha's husband, James Conran, and agency booker, Micki Schneider, organize a drive to collect letters from children in the West, have them translated, and match them as pen-pals with the Haitian kids. They visit schools and orphanages, play soccer, and venture into one of Port-au-Prince's notorious tent cities. The part where a little girl gets a coloring book, and her entire face changes, is heart-breaking. As Rocha pointed out last night, all of these children are eligible for adoption. (John Seabrook wrote movingly of his and his wife's years-long effort to adopt an orphan from Haiti in the New Yorker last year.) If you can't do that, surely you can kick Lakay Pam, or another organization doing good work in Haiti, some cash. More »

The New Shonda Rhimes Show Sounds Awesome

Dodai Stewart — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:40:00 EDT

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Shonda Rhimes has sold an hour-long drama to ABC that is part soap opera and part conspiracy thriller. More »

The Whole World In Her Hands

Anna Holmes — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:10:00 EST

[Port-au-Prince, Haiti; January 21. Image via Getty]

Orphan Discriminates Against Possessed Children

Sadie Stein — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:20:00 EDT

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The horror movie Orphanis attracting criticism from adoption advocacy groups who worry it casts older adopted children in a bad light. Well, the demonic ones, certainly. More »

Madonna On Helping Malawi Orphans: "It Gives You Such An Appreciation For Life"

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:40:00 EST

Madonna's new documentary, I Am Because We Are, aired last night on the Sundance Channel. The film explores the lives of of children in Malawi orphaned by AIDS, and, in a clip (posted after the jump) Madonna talks about her own loss: "I can't compare my suffering to other children, but when I was six years old, my mother died," she says. "I think I really have a connection to children who lose their parents." In another clip from the film, also seen after the jump, Madonna says, "People always ask me why I chose Malawi…I tell them I didn't," she claims. "It chose me." More »

The Death Of A Parent Can Both Immobilize And Inspire

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Jeanne Safer was 57 years old when her mother died, reports the LA Times. Her father had died many years before and Safer is now an "adult orphan." But she soon discovered a "shocking — almost sacrilegious" truth: It can be awesome when a parent dies. "The death of a parent — any parent — can set us free. It offers us our last, best chance to become our truest, deepest selves," writes Safer in her book, Death Benefits. In fact, the first line of the autobiography slash guidebook is "The death of your parents can be the best thing that ever happens to you". By the by: Jeanne Safer is a psychotherapist. More »

Child's Play

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:45:00 EDT

The AP is reporting that the waiting time for Americans to adopt a child from China is now triple what it was years ago. "Unfortunately we've had families who have decided to withdraw from the process," says Great Wall Adoptions' Leigh Ann Graf. Sadly, the wait is much shorter if parents agree to adopt a child with a physical handicap such as a cleft palate or congenital heart disease. Meanwhile, in a story in the Telegraph, psychologists warn that "Madonna-style" adoptions — from another country — are creating more orphans. Says professor Kevin Browne of the University of Liverpool: "We found that parents in poor countries are now giving up their children in the belief that they will have a 'better life in the west' with a more wealthy family." [AP, Telegraph] More »