Orphans

An organization called International Orphan Care (IOC) operates a school for orphans in Jalalabad and Herat. The Jelazee Refugee Camp was located near the Afghanistan border in Pakistan. It was closed in 2002. JRC was overcrowded, dirty, had no water and was in high risk of spreading infectious diseases. It was once called the "living cemetery". Now, the camp is empty and closed.
 * __Where are orphan a____nd refugee camps located in Pakistan and Afghanistan?__**

The biggest Kabul orphanage is called "Parwarishgah-e-Watan." The Parwarishgah-e-Watan orphanage has very poor living conditions. RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) is an organization of women fighting for human rights and social justice in Afghanistan. In February and March of 2002, RAWA gave them food, stationary, clothing, footwear and other items. RAWA has also built many orphanages in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Their first orphanage was established in 1986, located in Quetta of Pakistan. RAWA is currently running 5 orphanages in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Quetta and a few in Afghanistan. The Edhi Foundation runs over 300 orphanages scattered across the country of Pakistan. It is the most commonly used orphanage because of how quickly the referral time is compared to others. The Newlife orphanage is located in Islamabad, Pakistan. It was founded in 2006 and is run solely by volunteers. Spirit of Glory orphanage is located in Jahanian, Pakistan. //__Connection to Literature__//: Sohrab was put in an orphanage in Karteh-Seh, Kabul after his parents, Hassan and Farzana died. Baba also built an orphanage for children.

Desperate parents sometimes sell their children into prostitution, another way they can get to the streets. Over 1.5 million children have lost one or both parents. The lucky children get taken to orphanages. Life after they get there (as seen below) is not easy. Afghanistan law (based on Islamic Shari'a law) does not allow adoption.Guardianship can be obtained more easily. However, even with guardianship, it is not always easy to get the child(ren) permission to immigrate to the United States. It is not always obvious that the child is actually an orphan, even if they seem to be one. As stated above, parents sometimes sell or become separated from their children. If it can be established by a U.S. citizen that the child is actually an orphan as defined in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act and under Afghanistan law, the guardianship gives the citizen more authority. At this point, they can not only care for the child, but bring them to the United States for the specific purpose of their adoption. Directly from [|Eligibility for Immigration Benefits as an Orphan], an orphan under U.S. law is "a foreign child who does not have any parents because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents. An orphan can also be a foreign-born child with a sole or surviving parent who is unable to provide for the child’s basic needs, consistent with the local standards of the foreign sending country, and has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption." If they are proven to be orphans, they can also be taken in by a relative, generally the person who obtains the guardianship order. Also, it is internationally agreed that in times of crises such as wars or natural disasters, uporroting the child from their homeland can worsen the situation. //__Connection to Literature:__// All the laws above are what made it so difficult for Amir to bring Sohrab the the United States. After Soraya's uncle got involved, it became easier. Amir was a blood relative, which gave him an advantage. He also had some sort of proof that Sohrab's parents were both dead, and he obtained a guardianship order.Understanding the adoption and orphan laws in Afghanistan and, especially, the U.S. enhances the understanding of the text because it shows us why it was so difficult to get Sohrab to be adopted. While reading the work, I didn't completely understand why it was so difficult to get Sohrab adopted and now I do. This situation in the story, though realistic with the laws, isn't a common situation. I spent some time on the phone with Customs and Immigration, and they told me that adoptions of children from Afghanistan do happen in this country, though they are not common. On the State Department website, there is a Travel Warning about Afghanistan. U.S. citizens are discouraged from traveling there because it is dangerous, making adoptions difficult. They are possible, but not common in this country.
 * __How is one declared an orphan or a refugee?__**

The orphans and refugees (in and out of the camps) live in terrible conditions. According to a report written by UNICEF, the orphanages have "an acute lack of livelihood, a paucity of marketable skills, and few jobs outside the subsistence and illicit economies [...] There exists furthermore, a need for imaginative thinking on training toward sustainable livelihoods" These kids are living awful lives, and no one in their home country has the money or resources to do anything about it. Inside of the orphanages, it is nothing like a family. Children as young as eight or nine inside of orphanages or camps experience sexual violence and beatings, and are often forced into labor. In refugee camps in Pakistan, the removal of human organs from children, especially kidneys, is widespread. Many of the tens of thousands of children in this situation have mental health problems too. They are the survivors of bombings, their homes/schools have been shelled, many of them have been raped or sold into prostitution, and, like Farid in //The Kite Runner//, some have been maimed by land mines. They still suffer traumatic stress disorder, and there is no access to the necessary medical care. Others live on the streets, vulnerable and subject to hunger, abuse, and bad health. Some turn to begging or crime for survival. Inside the camps and throughout the country, there is a lack of sufficient medical care. This makes children the first to contract and die from rampant infectious diseases. Over 700,000 orphans are living in sub-poverty conditions today. //__Connection to Literature__:// In //The Kite Runner//, Sohrab is in an orphanage in Kabul. He was sold off to a Taliban man who would sexually abuse him. This is a real life situation. I can also understand part of what made Farid so angry with Zaman. Although I was horrified that he would sell these children into prostitution, I didn't realize how commonplace it was. The orphanage must have been filty, and Zaman's descriptions in Hosseini's work really tie into the real life information.
 * __Under what conditions do orphans and refugees live?__**

• If they have family that can’t care for them that takes them out to celebrate holidays with, they can be taken out of the orphanage. • There is no adoption, but there is guardianship. Yet, if you want to become a guardian of an Afghan orphan and you're from a different country, you cannot. //__Connection to Literature:__// We see this in //The Kite Runner// when we find out that Assef took Sohrab out of the orphanage and when Amir tries to adopt him, he cannot very easily. media type="youtube" key="t4W4YbcaTnY&rel=1" height="355" width="425"
 * __How do they get out of such camps?__**
 * Video: A news report about a young boy getting a second chance**

• Terrible living conditions, too many people in one orphanage • Don’t have enough money for proper living quarters and a proper education • The cost of one missile would be enough to provide resources and materials for an orphanage. //__Connection to Literature:__// We see this in //The Kite Runner// when Farid and Amir go to the orphanage. There is mud floors, no heat, some matresses, some bed frames, etc. media type="youtube" key="zbEggGaRj3I&rel=1" height="355" width="425"
 * __What have been their experiences in such camps?__**
 * Video: A video of orphanages in Kabul**

• About 80% of children in orphanages in Afghanistan have at least one parent alive. Facts off of an Afghan Orphanage site: •50% of the Afghan population is less than 18 years of age with almost no education •One out of four Afghan children dies before the age of five •Over 400,000 children are maimed, because of land mines •Over one million Afghan children are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
 * Extra Information**

__**Works Cited** http://www.afghanorphans.org/index.html http://www.apaa.info/orph.htm__ [|https://www.charityhelp.org/sponsor/rawa /orphan_children_in_afghanistan]__ http://www.orphanproject.org/photo_gallery/31.jpg http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/report/detail/1741/__ http://www.orphanproject.org/ http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/070203B.shtml http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/f303799b16d2074285256830007fb33f/a78cee8a51430840c1256f5e004cab04?OpenDocument http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/country/country_362.html http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/2002/02-20-2002.cfm http://www.rawa.org/orphanage.htm http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=17f496981298d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=063807b03d92b010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_2121.html http://www.edhifoundation.com/ http://www.spirit-of-glory.com/Believers-of-Christ-Ministries-Orphanage-Center.htm