The Interview: US CDC researcher Susan Hillis on how people of faith can support COVID orphans
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, speaks with Susan Hillis, a member of the COVID-19 International Task Force at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about how her Christian faith connects with her work and how people can support children and families devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic…
With more than a million children orphaned by COVID, faith-based groups look to mobilise support
RNS More than a million children around the world may have been orphaned by COVID-19, losing one or both parents to the disease or related causes. Another estimated 500,000 lost a grandparent or another relative who cared for them. Orphans eat a meal in Sylhet, Bangladesh, in April, 2021. PICTURE: Imdadul Hussain/Unsplash/Creative Commons The numbers […]
Orphans, soldiers, students: North Korea turns to “volunteers” for coal mines, construction
Seoul, South KoreaReuters Orphans, conscripted soldiers, and students – some appearing to be children – are “volunteering” to work manual labour in North Korea, including in coal mines, farms, and large construction projects, the country’s state media have reported. Hundreds of graduates of orphan schools “volunteered to work in difficult fields”, according to reports by […]
Irish PM says “perverse” morality drove unwed mothers’ homes
London, UKAP Ireland’s Prime Minister said on Tuesday that the country must “face up to the full truth of our past”, as a long-awaited report recounted decades of harm done by church-run homes for unmarried women and their babies, where thousands of infants died. Micheal Martin said young women and their children had paid a […]
Essay: A Christmas without family and community
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, reflects on what will be, for many, a Christmas “like no other in recent memory”…
Argentina raises hopes with $300 allowance for orphans of femicide
Thomson Reuters Foundation Four years after Brisa Barrionuevo’s father beat her mother to death and dumped her body in a river, Argentina has set an example for Latin America to follow with a law named after her giving financial support to such orphans, experts said. Barrionuevo, now aged five, has become a symbol of some […]
As more Christians are killed in Somalia, number of orphans grows
Morning Star News Orphans in Somalia whose parents were killed for their faith by Islamic extremist al-Shabaab rebels are becoming more numerous – and hungrier, an underground church leader said. The pastor started a care centre for the orphans three years ago in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as more children of secret Christians were orphaned. […]
A call to action on the plight of orphans around the world
Orphan Sunday will be marked in more than 50 countries this weekend as a global campaign to highlight the plight of orphans continues to gain momentum. Organised by the Christian Alliance for Orphans – a coalition of 150 orphan-related organisations, the day was first held in Zambia 11 years ago and has since grown to […]