Hundreds of millions of children around the world have been tragically orphaned for many reasons: wars, famine, displacement, illness or poverty. To make sure they are not forgotten, once a year there is a special day dedicated just to them: World Orphans Day, which falls on the second Monday of each November.
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An orphan is a person whose father or mother (or both) have passed away. This term usually refers to those who were orphaned before reaching adulthood, because it is an unusual situation that creates orphanage for subsistence problems. According to UNICEF (the United Nations International Fund for Emergencies) there are more than 140,000,000 orphans worldwide as of 2017. An additional 2,102,400 children become orphans each year in Africa alone. 20 million children are orphaned in India (SOS Children Villages). Every 18 SECONDS a child becomes an orphan. 400,000 orphans die every year of malnutrition. The sad thing is that 99% of orphans will never become adopted (according to Food for Orphans).
World Orphan Day has a noble purpose. It was founded to draw attention to the plight of orphans in the world. On this day, people are invited to actively participate in helping raise awareness, support and funding for children without mothers and fathers around the world.
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The history behind World Orphans day
Already in the distant past people would volunteer to care for helpless orphans who were left without their parents for various tragic reasons. The first to officially care for orphaned children were the Romans, who opened the first orphanage in history around 400 AD. But long before them was the Jewish law prescribed care for the widow and the orphan and the Athenian law that must support orphans up to the age of 18 of those killed in military service until the age of eighteen. The great philosopher Plato once said, "Orphans should be placed under public guardians. Men should fear the loneliness of orphans and the souls of their deceased parents. A man should love the unfortunate orphan who is his guardian "His child. He must be as careful and diligent in managing the orphan property as himself or even more careful."
Later, in medieval Europe, orphans were treated in churches. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of orphans in England reached truly alarming proportions, not to mention the conditions in which the orphaned children lived, which were often appalling and abusive. Charles Dickens' most famous novel, "Oliver Twist," perfectly describes the hardships that orphaned children have had to endure in orphanages.
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In the modern age researchers are almost unanimous in their claim that orphanages are the worst possible treatment option for children, as they do not receive the right amount of attention or physical contact for normal development.
This has led many people, usually Westerners, to decide to adopt children from poor countries to give them a chance at a better life. Unfortunately, this trend has also led to a large number of scams committed on the backs of innocent parents, many of whom have paid huge sums of money to adopt children bought from their parents for a very small sum.
World Orphanage was created by the Star Foundation to raise awareness of the number of children in this world who are missing something that most of us take for granted: parents. The wish of the Star Foundation was for this day to motivate people to do everything they can to help.
How to Celebrate World Orphan Day
As mentioned earlier, anything you can do to help can make a huge difference to poor orphans, so take some time to figure out what you can do to reach them. You can, for example, organize a fundraising event. It is also possible to sponsor a single child in an orphanage you have chosen in a particularly poor part of the world or to invest in educational programs aimed at giving orphans a fresh start in life. There are many ways to help orphans and this anniversary is meant to bring the ideas to as wide an audience as possible. You can get more information on the website - thestarsfoundation.net
