Hollywood actress and former wife of director Woody Allen, Mia Farrow wants to come to India to care for deprived children.

''I would like to be a relief worker,'' says Farrow, who already has a family of 13 adopted children including a 10-year-old boy from Calcutta.

In an interview to The Sunday Times, London, the 53-year-old actress scoffed at suggestions that she might see herself as a latter-day Mother Teresa. ''Make no mistake, it is not charity. I am getting more out of it than I put in,'' she says.

In fact, she had planned out her life from the time when she was a nine-year-old suffering from a polio attack. The month she spent in a hospital at Beverly Hills surrounded by children fighting for survival completely changed the course of her life.

''It changed my view of life. I became aware that everybody did not live happily in Beverly Hills, that there was a precariousness to our existence.''

It was created as a refuge for orphans who had suffered starvation, but the idyll was shattered when sex abusers infiltrated the village

Desperate images of starving orphans of the famine led to the founding of the village in 1974. A Swiss charity, Terre des hommes, Lausanne (Tdh), created the village in a valley given to them by the then emperor, Haile Selassie, and provided the children with a home and an education. The orphans were supposed to live as one big family. They slept in bunks in dormitory huts, ate from big trestle tables and looked up to the adults who worked and lived there, seeing them as their substitute parents.

But in the past five years, the idyll has been shattered. The village became the target for paedophiles, men who knew how easy it would be to abuse their positions of power and trust. They changed the nature of the place for ever, and the village is set to close.

Father figure to 300

It was in July 1994 that David Christie, a British expatriate, came to work for Tdh in Ethiopia as its country representative. With a home and head office in Addis Ababa, he spent most of his time at the children's village eight hours drive away in South Wollo.

Letter on File - Romania 2000

0

Attempt to get points for adoptions - under the Romanian pointsystem, the number of adoptable children were dependent of points for humanitarian aid

d

Simon Mordue, Mariela Neague, Daniela Gheorghe, Chris Walker

Roelie Post (took the picture)

SERA REPORT July 1999

9

Dr. Ronald Federici: Romanian Orphans Q&A

April 17, 2010 at 6:44 pm | In Advocates for Children in Therapy, Children in Therapy, Dr. Ronald Federici, adoption, dr. ron federici, independent adoptions, orphan, orphanage, private adoptions, romania, ron federici, ronald federici, siret | 1 Comment

Tags: adoption, china, damaged children, help for the hopeless child, neuropsychological evaluation, poland, romania, romanian challenge appeal, romanian orphans, ron federici, ronald federici, russia, siret

Friday, June 25, 1999

Ron Federici

Child-lifting racket busted in Salem - by Our Special Correspondent

SALEM, JUNE 16. The Salem city police have busted a major child lifting racket that is likely to have far-reaching implications. Four infants, stolen straight from hospital were recovered and five persons, including three women were arrested.

At a press conference, Mr.V.Jegannathan, Commissioner, said this was the first time in Salem police had received complaints of infants missing from hospital, that too accidentally.

Rapist nun led team to Romanian orphanage.

AN Irish nun, who helped rape and terrify a 10-year-old girl, was later allowed to lead a cross-border mercy mission to a Romanian orphanage.

And evil Nora Wall - dubbed Sister Anti-Christ by her helpless victim - made a major impression on members of the British government funded Belfast Action Team which organised the trip.

They provided her with a glowing testimonial saying they would have "no hesitation whatsoever" in involving her in any of their future programmes.

Now a full investigation is expected to be launched.

The Sister of No Mercy

Published 12/06/1999 | 00:11

Share?

?

?